[비즈한국] CHA Bio Group's third-generation heir, Vice Chairman Cha Won-tae, who also serves as Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) of CHA Biotech085660, is joining the board of directors. This marks the first time since CHA Biotech's inception in 2009 that a member of the founding family has become a registered director. Amidst the company's recent aggressive expansion, including the acquisition of Kakao Healthcare and a series of strategic alliances with Hanwha Life Insurance088350 and Hanwha General Insurance000370, this move is seen as a formal step toward responsible management.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System (DART) on the 30th, CHA Biotech plans to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on January 13 next year to appoint Vice Chairman Cha as an internal director. Having been promoted to vice chairman of the group in September, he is formalizing his entry into the board just three months later. This is the first time in the 16 years since CHA Biotech went public via a back-door listing in 2009 that a member of the owner family has held a registered director position. Even the founder, Cha Kwang-yul, who serves as Chairman of the Global Research Institute, has never served as a registered director while holding the title of Chairman.
Industry observers attach great significance to Vice Chairman Cha's entry as an executive director, noting that the company is currently expanding its business territory through the acquisition of Kakao Healthcare and strategic partnerships with Hanwha Life and General Insurance. Expectations in the market are rising regarding his role as the company transitions from drug development to a data-driven healthcare platform. Consequently, some speculate that after joining the board through the extraordinary meeting, he may be appointed as a representative director or co-representative at the annual shareholders' meeting in March.
On the 19th of last month, CHA Biotech announced that its subsidiaries, Cha Cares and Cha AI Healthcare, would acquire a 43.08% stake in Kakao Healthcare for 80 billion won. The company plans to strengthen digital healthcare services within its global medical network by leveraging Kakao Healthcare's IT and business capabilities, including the mobile health management solution 'Pasta', the 'HRS' platform, the medical data business 'Heycon', and the hospital concierge service 'Carechat'. Regarding the acquisition, Vice Chairman Cha stated, "CHA Bio Group is actively pursuing strategic partnerships across various industries, including AI, IT, finance, and construction. Through our collaboration with Kakao Healthcare, we will evolve into an AI-converged life science company that designs a healthy future for humanity."
On the 4th, the company also signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hanwha General Insurance and Hanwha Life Insurance to collaborate in the fields of bio, AI/data-based digital healthcare, and finance. The goal is to combine the medical and bio-technological expertise, as well as the AI/data-driven digital healthcare capabilities of CHA Biotech, Cha Healthcare, and Cha AI Healthcare with the business infrastructure of Hanwha's financial and insurance arms to create synergies and jointly discover new business opportunities. In the mid-to-long term, the company aims to advance its cooperative system linking healthcare and finance to expand a life-cycle-based lifecare value chain. Vice Chairman Cha remarked at the MOU signing, "Healthcare is an industry that covers the entire life cycle, making it difficult for a single company to meet all demands. Through this collaboration, we will strengthen our lifecare value chain, upgrade our domestic foundations, and pursue global expansion linked to our international medical network."
Shareholders have expressed their support for the news of Vice Chairman Cha's entry into the board. Some shareholders had previously demanded that Vice Chairman Cha and Chairman Cha take the lead in management, pointing to the company's sluggish stock price during the March annual shareholders' meeting and through solo protests held in front of the company office. One shareholder remarked, "Vice Chairman Cha is joining the board thanks to the efforts of shareholders, and we hope he earns the market's trust."