POSCO Chemical was fined 580 million won by the Fair Trade Commission for intervening in the management of its partners, such as executive personnel appointments and stake composition, and failing to comply with them.
According to the Fair Trade Commission on July 7, POSCO Chemical has set and operated 'management standards' to interfere with important internal issues of its partners since 2010.
Earlier, POSCO Chemical outsourced some of its major business tasks, and in the process, it entrusted the work to a company established after its employees retired.
POSCO Chemical notified its partners in advance that the replacement of executives was underway, and in this way, all former and current executives of its 19 partners were formed as former internal employees.
The standard was also set so that the stake of internal executives would not exceed 33% (23% of CEOs and 10% of general executives). The remaining shares were filled with three to four other partners, which would prevent the CEO from making unilateral decisions.
The stake change work has been led by POSCO Chemical since 2016. At that time, the CEO of the partner company had an average stake of 53 percent
In response, POSCO Chemical asked accounting firms to calculate the value of their shares and lent funds to acquire stakes in other partners if they cross-owned shares. In the process, he also requested a confirmation letter from his partner that he would cooperate with the change in equity composition.
In addition, the annual salary of executives was set in the order of the president (190 million won), executive director (147 million won), and executive director (135 million won). The annual earned surplus was set at 250 million won, and the dividend rate was set at 5% (up to 100 million won) of the company's valuation.
POSCO Chemical continued to monitor compliance with these 'management standards'.
The Fair Trade Commission defined this as unfair management interference under the Fair Trade Act and decided to impose a fine of 580 million won along with a corrective order.
Reporter Ahn Ho-hyeon vicahh@infostock.co.kr