[비즈한국] Taekwang Industrial003240 appointed Vice President Jeong In-cheol as CEO at its board meeting on April 1, shifting to a co-CEO system with Lee Bu-ui. Following this, the company presented its plans for expanding into new businesses through its first shareholder letter. This letter was released immediately after most of the proposals made by the second-largest shareholder, Truston Asset Management—including voluntary delisting, a 1-to-50 stock split, the cancellation of 20% of treasury shares, and strengthening board independence—were rejected at the regular general shareholders' meeting on March 31. Taekwang Industrial stated that among Truston's proposals, only the agenda for the expanded separate appointment of audit committee members was passed.
In the shareholder letter on the 2nd, Taekwang Industrial explained that the transition to a co-CEO system is a measure to simultaneously pursue stable operation of existing businesses and the implementation of future growth strategies. The company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Aekyung Industrial018250, is in the process of acquiring Dongsung Pharmaceutical002210 to enter the bio and healthcare sectors, and has submitted a letter of intent to acquire K Shipbuilding. It added that it is also reviewing ways to utilize assets, including real estate investment and development.
The core of this shareholder letter is that Taekwang Industrial has reaffirmed its direction to widen its investment axis toward consumer goods, healthcare, shipbuilding, and real estate development while maintaining its existing petrochemical and textile-centered business structure. In the letter, Taekwang Industrial stated, "We are pushing for an expansion into business-to-consumer (B2C) areas, centering on consumer goods and healthcare, moving beyond our existing business-to-business (B2B) structure based on petrochemicals."
This direction is less of a sudden announcement and more of an extension of the investment roadmap that has been in place since last year. In the second half of 2025, Taekwang Industrial presented a 1.5 trillion won roadmap including investments in new businesses such as cosmetics, energy, and real estate development, as well as its existing petrochemical and textile sectors. The amended disclosure on future business and management plans on April 2 reflected the completion of the Aekyung Industrial acquisition, plans for the acquisition of new shares and additional corporate bonds of Dongsung Pharmaceutical, and participation in the K Shipbuilding bid.
This can be interpreted as the company prioritizing the explanation of its business portfolio restructuring over short-term shareholder returns immediately after the general shareholders' meeting. However, this does not mean that Taekwang Industrial has postponed the enhancement of shareholder value itself. According to a Korea Exchange disclosure, Taekwang Industrial issued a pre-announcement on March 12 regarding its corporate value enhancement plan, stating that it would announce the relevant plan during the second quarter of 2026. As most of Truston's shareholder return proposals were not accepted at the general meeting, the focus now remains on the extent to which dividends, treasury shares, and investment funding plans will be materialized in the future corporate value enhancement plan disclosure.