[Edaily Marketin Reporter Hur Jieun ] The National Pension Service (NPS) has changed the purpose of its stockholding in KoreaZinc(010130) from “simple investment” to “general investment.” This comes two years and four months after the NPS adjusted its holding purpose from “general investment” to “simple investment” in March 2024. This move is interpreted as an indication of the NPS’s intention to actively exercise its shareholder rights regarding the director appointment agenda to be discussed at the upcoming extraordinary general meeting of KoreaZinc.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on the 31st, the National Pension Service has changed its investment purpose for KoreaZinc to “general investment.” The National Pension Service is a major shareholder, holding a 5.48% stake (1,143,916 shares) in KoreaZinc. Given that the current ownership structure of KoreaZinc—with the MBK-Youngpoong consortium holding approximately 41.1% and Chairman Choi’s family and allied groups holding 37.9%—shows a relatively narrow gap, the NPS has consistently been regarded as a swing vote at every general shareholders’ meeting.
Changing the purpose of the shareholding to “general investment” signifies a shift toward exercising more active shareholder rights, such as demanding higher dividends or requesting the removal of executives. While “simple investment” involves exercising only basic rights—such as receiving dividends and exercising voting rights—without offering separate opinions or exerting pressure on management, “general investment” allows for expressing support or opposition to the appointment or removal of directors, requesting the removal of executives who have violated the law, and submitting shareholder proposals.
The National Pension Service’s change in investment purpose appears to be aimed at KoreaZinc’s extraordinary general meeting scheduled for this coming September. KoreaZinc will hold an extraordinary general meeting on September 9 to elect a total of five individuals, including four outside directors and one audit committee member. The candidates for the audit committee member—who will be elected separately and are expected to be a point of contention—include Professor Baek In-kyu of Dankook University, nominated by KoreaZinc, and Park Yu-kyung, a former executive in charge of corporate governance improvement at APG Asset Management, nominated by the MBK-Youngpoong consortium.
Previously, at KoreaZinc’s regular shareholders’ meeting last March, the National Pension Service (NPS) did not vote in favor of the resolution to appoint Chairman Choi as an inside director and instead “abstained” from exercising its voting rights. At that time, the NPS voted against the candidates recommended for the audit committee—Kim Bo-young and Lee Min-ho. The NPS explained that these individuals “have a history of damaging corporate value or infringing on shareholders’ rights.”
Meanwhile, the National Pension Service changed its investment objective for KoreaZinc from “simple investment” to “general investment” in November 2021, and then reverted it to “simple investment” in March 2024. Even after the management control dispute between Chairman Choi’s camp and the MBK-Youngpoong consortium intensified in September of the same year, the NPS maintained its investment objective as “simple investment” and has exercised its voting rights only in principle.
