Samyang Foods said in a regulatory filing on the 4th that Chairwoman Kim Jung-soo will gift 200,000 shares of Samyang Foods she holds to her eldest son, Chief Operating Officer Jeon Byung-woo, and her daughter, Jeon Ha-young. A total of 171,500 shares will be transferred to Jeon, the COO, and 28,500 shares to Jeon Ha-young. The scheduled gift date is the 6th of next month.
The gift will be carried out through a debt-assumption gift arrangement, under which 80 billion won in debt that Kim raised through a stock-backed loan will also be transferred. A debt-assumption gift involves taking over the debt secured by the gifted assets and is used as a means of reducing gift taxes.
Once the gift is completed, Kim's stake in Samyang Foods will fall from 3.76% to 1.11%. By contrast, the COO's stake will rise from 0.59% to 2.87%, the second-highest among the owner family after former Chairman Jeon In-jang (3.13%). For this reason, analysts say the gift is effectively a step in the succession of management control.
Born in 1994, the COO joined Samyang Foods as a manager in the overseas business division in 2019 and was promoted to director in 2020. He was then successively promoted to executive director in 2023 and senior executive director last year, stepping to the forefront of management. He currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of holding company Samyang Roundsquare and COO of Samyang Foods, taking part in key management matters such as global business expansion and the discovery of new businesses.
A Samyang Foods official said, "We carried this out through a debt-assumption gift after comprehensively considering compliance with relevant laws and procedures as well as personal asset planning," adding, "It is a decision aimed at enabling the COO, who is involved in management, to contribute to the company's growth and the enhancement of corporate value with greater responsibility."
