'R&D myth' Hanmi Pharm couldn't avoid 'management dispute'

[Korea Financial Times, Park seulgi] The dispute over management rights between the mother and daughter of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group and the brother is getting fiercer. On the 2nd, the agenda to appoint Lim Jong-yoon, the eldest son of the founder, as the CEO was rejected. As a result, the conflict between Hanmi Pharmaceutical on the mother and daughter side, which declared independent management, and Hanmi Science, the holding company on the brother side, is expected to intensify. However, there are also concerns about damaging corporate competitiveness due to long-term management disputes.

According to the industry on the 3rd, Hanmi Pharmaceutical held a board meeting at Hanmi Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul, the morning before and voted on the appointment of director Lim Jong-yoon. Lim Jong-yoon, an in-house director, resigned CEO Park Jae-hyun and posted an agenda that he would step up to the position, but failed to pass. Industry experts say that it was a predicted result. Among the composition of Hanmi Pharmaceutical's board of directors, there are seven people on the mother's side and three people on the brother's side.

After winning the group's management dispute earlier this year, brothers Lim Jong-yoon and Lim Jong-hoon appointed four new directors, including themselves, to compete 6-4. At that time, Shin Dong-guk, chairman of Hanyang Precision, the largest shareholder of Hanmi Science, joined hands with the brothers, and later formed a coalition with Chairman Song Young-sook and Vice Chairman Lim Joo-hyun, and the topography of the board of directors leaned toward the mother and daughter.

According to the results of the board of directors' meeting, it is expected that the strengthening of the independent management system declared by CEO Park Jae-hyun will be supported. Earlier, CEO Park announced on the 28th that he would establish a human resources team and a legal team at Hanmi Pharmaceutical, and on the 29th that Hanmi Pharmaceutical would conduct its own independent management, not a subsidiary of Hanmi Science. Currently, Hanmi Pharmaceutical is taking steps to transfer its personnel and legal affairs, which was entrusted to the holding company, to the new organization.

Earlier, Hanmi Science CEO Lim Jong-hoon, the second son of the founder, demoted Park from president to executive vice president after he announced his intention to run the company independently. Afterward, Lim Jong-yoon, director, requested a board meeting to review the proposal to make him head of Hanmi Pharm, but it was rejected.

In this regard, “Hanmi Pharm's unilateral independence undermines shareholder value,” Lim said, adding that he would consider holding an extraordinary general meeting to replace the board and management.

He also raised the possibility of a secret deal in the board process. “I expected us to be 6-4 in favor, but two members changed their opinions, and I think there was a secret agreement in the process,” Lim said, adding, ”If there was a secret agreement, we will actively respond to it.”

The protracted battle between the brothers and the mother and the daughter over the holding company and its core affiliate, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, has raised concerns about damaging corporate competitiveness. The company is currently facing a number of challenges, including the development of new drugs, domestic sales, and exports, and they are spending all their time squabbling over the business when they could be working together.

“I am concerned that both Hanmi Pharm and Hanmi Science will hold shareholder meetings in the midst of Hanmi Group's infighting. What a waste of time they are wasting not being able to discuss new drugs,” said director Lim. ”The mother-daughter team will continue to try to add board members because they cannot control the company through their shareholding, and until they do, the management dispute will continue.”

Park seulgi (seulgi@fntimes.com)