Shareholders of Lotte Holdings Co., the Japan-based holding firm of Lotte Group, threw their support behind Chairman Shin Dong-bin on Monday, bolstering his foothold in an ongoing ownership feud with his father and elder brother.
Advertisement
Shareholders of Japan-based Lotte Holdings approved the proposal at an extraordinary shareholders meeting on Monday.
The keenly watched shareholder meeting moved a step closer to resolving a very public feud between Shin, his father Shin Kyuk-ho and his elder brother, Shin Dong-Joo.
As shareholders showed their support for the younger brother by backing his proposals, experts see the meeting as a big win that gave a boost to his power to lead the South Korean-Japanese conglomerate.
He also said he would push for the public listing of Hotel Lotte, which effectively controls Lotte’s business units in Korea.
The chairman announced a set of reform measures to enhance corporate governance of Lotte Group, as the family squabble exposed Lotte’s murky shareholdings.
The battle over control of Tokyo-based Lotte Holdings, which serves as the headquarters for the South Korean-Japanese conglomerate, surfaced in late July when Takeo and his elder son, Hiroyuki Shigemitsu, 61, told the company Akio had been dismissed along with some other executives. Takeo, honorary chairman of Lotte Holdings, did not attend the meeting.
Lotte Holdings is an unlisted company and details about its shareholders are not disclosed.
“The shareholders agreed on the establishment of a stable management structure by current executives under the leadership of CEO Shin Dong-bin”.
“I believe management and family issues should not be confused”. The group pledged to reduce 80 percent of its cross-shareholdings by the end of the year.
“Lotte in the both countries will try to enhance its respective performance while creating synergies to increase value in the global market”, Shin Dong-bin said in an official statement via email.
The older son of the founder said earlier that he would seek to change the existing board and return the patriarch to a board seat at the meeting. Another one-third is possessed by the group’s employees. Shin Dong-joo (4th from L) leaves for Japan via Gimpo global Airport, west of Seoul, on August 16, 2015.
Advertisement
He was stripped of the vice chairmanship of Lotte Holdings in January.
