Lotte chairman Shin Dong-bin on Thursday left for Tokyo, four days ahead of the Lotte Holdings shareholders meeting — slated for Monday — that is expected to discern the future leader of the 90 trillion won-business empire that encompasses Asia and the U.S.
He is expected to lock horns with his archrival and elder brother Shin Dong-joo, who is reportedly determined to dethrone him in order to “set the record straight” for their father and Lotte general chairman Shin Kyuk-ho.
Dong-bin showed up at the Haneda Airport early in the morning but refused to answer media queries. Lotte Group said that the shareholders meeting of Lotte Holdings, the de facto control tower of both Lotte in Korea and Japan, will deal with agendas such as corporate governance and compliance.
But Dong-bin is expected to propose naming his father as honorary chairman of Lotte, which is seen as a move to practically freeze his role in all business operations.
As a counterattack, Dong-joo is expected to propose the dismissal of six executives who have led the fiasco — on July 27, Kyuk-ho fired Dong-bin and his aides from Lotte Holdings’ management positions over claims that he had not followed business principles, but the next day he himself was dismissed by his younger son who alleged that the move was illegitimate.
“Neither of the agendas have been submitted yet,” a company insider said.
Since July 28, Dong-bin has been concentrating on solidifying his presence as Lotte’s legitimate leader.
It was revealed on Thursday that he had sacked Kyuk-ho from the presidency of nine of the 12 L-Investment firms.
The L-Investments units hold 72.65 percent of Hotel Lotte in Korea, the de facto holding company of Lotte Korea. Dong-bin has earlier said that he was appointed as the CEO of all the units. Moreover, Lotte Holdings was revealed to own 100 percent stake in them.
Dong-bin has already gained support from Lotte Holdings’ Japanese CEO Takayuki Tsukuda, 37 CEOs of Lotte Korea affiliates as well as 19 leaders of Lotte Korea’s labor unions.
As a means to soothe public antipathy toward the fraternal brouhaha, he has also pledged to streamline Lotte’s governance structure, including weakening Japanese shareholders’ influence on the Korean units’ operation and sever 80 percent of cross-shareholding structures.
“At the moment, Dong-bin seems quite confident and he has good reasons to be so,” an onlooker said.
However, Dong-joo — who has allegedly gained his father’s approval as well as support of other family members — has reportedly filed a petition with the Japanese authorities claiming that Dong-bin’s registration as the L-Investments CEO is illegitimate.
“Even if Dong-joo loses at the shareholders’ meeting there are chances that he would seek a legal battle afterward,” a business insider was quoted as telling a news outlet.
By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)
