SK Vice Chair Chey Jae-won reinstated into leadership after eight-year hiatus

Chey Jae-won, the younger brother to SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, returned to the conglomerate’s leadership on Dec. 17, after an eight-year hiatus.

Chey, vice chairman of the SK Group and CEO of SK Holdings, will assume the position of SK On’s co-CEO, the latest subsidiary in SK Group's more than 95 subsidiaries. 

Established this October, SK On is a wholly owned subsidiary of SK Innovation Co., Ltd. and focuses on battery production. It competes in Korea’s highly advanced and equally competitive battery production market along with LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI. 

JOINT LEADERSHIP WITH CURRENT CEO

SK On held a board of directors and extraordinary general shareholders' meeting Friday and decided on the personnel change. Effective immediately, Chey will co-lead the newly launched company with current CEO Ji Dong-seop. 

Chey will concentrate his efforts on growth strategies and global networking; while Ji will manage the overall operations as before. Kim Jun, SK Innovations' Vice Chairman and CEO, will maintain his post as SK On’s board chair.

In a statement, SK On said the leadership reshuffle reflects the company’s commitment to “build the battery business as the group’s core driver for growth and aim to become a global leader in the industry.” 

Chey is the second son of the late Chey Jong-hyun, the group’s former chief. In 2011 at the age of 47, he was promoted to become the Vice Chairman of SK Holdings, the second-highest post within the chaebol. 

In 2013, Chey was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to prison. As such, he stepped down from all director-level positions at Korea's fourth-largest conglomerate. In July 2016, Chey was released on parole -- and two months ago his employment restrictions were also lifted. 

On his return, Chey remarked that he plans to rapidly grow SK On to contribute to the group’s commitment to reduce industrial carbon emissions and expand the electric vehicle and battery businesses. 

INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENTS & IPO

In his role as the chief global strategist, Chey will work on SK On’s international investments and an IPO. 

SK On currently boasts an annual battery production capacity of 40 GWh. The company is investing beyond Korea to boost that number to 220 GWh by 2025 and to 500 GWh by 2030. 

Industry insiders say SK On has already entered a pre-IPO phase and will use the upcoming listing to get a fresh round of funds to further its global investments.  

Others in the industry see Chey’s return to the SK Innovation subsidiary as a signal of the group's plans to compete with the other Korean conglomerates that are also putting its top personnel in their battery businesses. 

The newly appointed CEO of LG Energy Solution Kwon Young-soo is one of the closest advisors to the LG Group chairman and chief executive Koo Kwang-mo.

Samsung SDI also named Samsung Electronics’ President Choi Yoon-ho as the new CEO of Samsung SDI. Choi is widely known as one of the most trusted executives of Samsung chairman Jay Y. Lee.

All eyes are now on how the top-tier leadership reshuffles at the tech giants as they push to overhaul the industry landscape from as early as next year.

Write to Kang Kyung-min at kkm1026@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.