Korea Zinc gains control of Sorin’s board

[Courtesy of Korea Zinc Co.]

South Korea‘s leading zinc smelter Korea Zinc Co., has recently taken control of the board of directors of Sorin Corp., its affiliate responsible for the distribution and sales of non-ferrous metals in global markets, a move that would effectively end its decades-long partnership with Young Poong Co.

Korea Zinc was co-founded in 1974 by Chang Byung-hee and Choi Ki-ho. Since then, the Choi family has been managing Korea Zinc, while the Chang family has been in charge of Young Poong.

Sorin held a shareholders’ meeting at the Young Poong‘s headquarters in Seoul to announce the appointment of four new directors, including Choi Min-seok, president of Steel Cycle Corp.

Established in 1984, Sorin represents joint management between the Choi family of Korea Zinc and the Chang family of Young Poong.

Despite that the Choi family owns a majority of the company’s shares at 66.7 percent, both families cooperated to run the company, with equal representation on the board of directors and the chief executive positions held by a member of the Chang family.

The joint management, however, faced challenges as the two families clashed over control of Korea Zinc last year. Earlier this year, Korea Zinc proposed appointing new directors to the board, but Young Poong opposed the proposal.

Korea Zinc then filed a court application for permission to convene a shareholder meeting on March 22, which the court granted in May.

In the meeting, Sorin decided to increase the board of directors from seven members to nine, with eight directors affiliated with Korea Zinc.