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The U.S. financier Carl Icahn on Friday succeeded in pushing one of his nominees, his business partner Warren Lichtenstein, on the board of Korea¡¯s biggest tobacco maker KT&G. Lichtenstein heads the New York-based hedge fund Steel Partners. A cat among the pigeons, the new outside director is expected to work for his and Icahn¡¯s bid for control of the company in a boardroom full of KT&G-appointed directors.
Lichtenstein won 39.6 percent of the vote for one of two outside directorships up for grabs at a general shareholder meeting at KT&G headquarters in Daejeon on Friday. The other is Ahn Yong-chan, the CEO of Aekyung, with 34.9 percent.
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Song Hyun-Woong, a lawyer for U.S. financier Carl Icahn, and others look on as a shareholders vote for outside directors for the board of Korea¡¯s biggest tobacco maker KT&G goes on at the company¡¯s headquarters in Seoul on Friday.
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KT&G had recommended two candidates and Icahn and partners three, but the result was expected. The only thing that was uncertain was the exact percentage of shareholder votes either side would be able to command. The result was 52 percent overall for KT&G and 48 percent for the offshore funds.
With Lichtenstein on the board, the partners are expected to intensify their pressure for what they call raising shareholder value. So far that has included pressuring the firm to sell off its ginseng subsidiary -- the ¡°G¡± in KT&G -- and idle real estate assets and non-core assets such as Buy the Way, its convenience store chain, as well as increase dividends.
KT&G CEO Kwak Young-kyoon said the outcome was expected. He said the result reflected a demand from shareholders for KT&G ¡°to make further efforts to boost shareholder value.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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