2024-03-22 21:00:00
Doesn’t my son live here? My son lives nearby and comes every day, but he didn’t come today. I might come back later to pick up side dishes. But where did my son invest?
I straighten my clothes before ringing the bell. Check the visitor card around your neck and the visit kit containing the company description. ‘Ding Dong’. There’s no answer, but I ring the bell again as if it’s familiar. ‘Ding Dong’. Only then do you hear a rustling sound from inside. The name of the shareholder she checked in her list was a man in his 40s, but there was one of her grandmothers with graying hair. She was Juju’s mother.
Educational materials for proxy voting distributed by Locomotive (left) and visit card. You must always wear a visitor’s card when collecting shareholders’ voting rights. /Reporter Jeong Min-ha
On the afternoon of the 14th, in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi-do, I personally worked with Beom-Hwi Choi (41), head of the voting rights delegation agency Locomotive, to collect voting rights for minority shareholders of JB Financial Group (175330) and Estec Pharma (041910). Although I expected it, the work was still not easy. Since the list of shareholders had no contact information, only addresses, I had to visit their homes one by one. In addition, even though the district was designated as Uijeongbu City, the distance between the shareholders’ residences was long, and in the case of apartments, security at the common entrance was often blocked.
There was no one in two of the five households visited for about three hours that day. In one place, the shareholders had already moved out, and in the other two places, there were people but no shareholders. In the end, he barely spoke on the phone to his son, Juju, through his mother in just one place. The shareholder in question said he would not be going to his mother’s house today, and decided to fill out an electronic proxy to delegate his voting rights instead.
Director Choi said, “If you visit a shopping mall or an apartment where shareholders over 60 years old live before 6 p.m., and if you visit an apartment where relatively young shareholders live after work hours, you are more likely to meet them.” “The number of cases has increased, and more than anything, since COVID-19, there has been an increase in cases where people pretend not to be there and do not open the door even if they are at home,” he said.
He said, “Companies that have applied for delegated voting rights are either in dispute or lack a quorum,” adding, “These companies often have low stock prices, and as a result, they often end up getting angry even when they have a difficult time meeting shareholders. In the past, for this reason, gift attacks were carried out targeting shareholders who delegated their rights, but these days, times have changed. Rather, it is important to listen carefully to the story,” he emphasized. Director Choi then added, “There are many rumors that so-called ‘scary people’ are making threats, but that is not true.”
Locomotive General Manager Choi Beom-hwi is writing a visit guide in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, on the 14th. Since contact information is not listed in the shareholder list, all we have to do is wait for shareholders who see this notice to call the person in charge. /Reporter Jeong Min-ha
The domestic voting rights delegation market was formed in the early 2000s, but at that time, there were only about 10 companies. Then, with the abolition of shadow voting (proxy voting rights) at the end of 2017, the related market began to grow. Shadow voting is a system in which the votes of shareholders who did not attend are considered to have been cast according to the pro/con ratio expressed at the general shareholders’ meeting in order to prevent a quorum from being met. With the abolition of this system, it became necessary to actually collect shareholder votes.
In addition, the number of minority shareholders has increased rapidly due to the so-called ‘Donghak Ant’ movement in 2020 and 2021, and as the vote competition between management and activist funds has increased at recent general shareholders’ meetings, both the attack (activism) and defense (company) sides have appointed professional companies. There have been more cases of doing so. Just a few years ago, there were cases where executives and employees of the company worked ‘overtime’ to get tickets after work without using an agency, but this has completely disappeared due to the introduction of the 52-hour system. Accordingly, the number of voting rights delegation agencies has increased significantly to about 50.
The voting rights delegation market is expected to grow further in the future. This is because the government is implementing several policies, including the Value Up program, to resolve the Korea Discount (undervaluation of the Korean stock market) this year. The social atmosphere is such that demands for shareholder return are accepted as legitimate demands of minority shareholders, and as the number of platforms for gathering minority shareholders has increased, collective action is bound to increase.
The leading proxy proxy company is Locomotive, established in 2005. There are 60 bases across the country, and about 500 people move in during the general shareholders’ meeting season. Last year, a total of 8 companies, including 5 KOSPI listed companies including SK Securities (001510), Kyungdong City Gas (267290), and Hansol Home Deco (025750), and 3 KOSDAQ listed companies such as Gemvaxlink (064800) and Oscotech (039200) We have succeeded in winning a proxy voting contract. In addition, well-known companies include Beside Korea, Teams, and Lee & J Marked Asia.
Locomotive Chief Choi Beom-hwi is recording the results of his visit on the application (app) used to delegate voting rights in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, on the 14th. /Reporter Jeong Min-ha
Although specific issues may differ from company to company, the proxy voting process is usually as follows. When a listed company makes a request, an agency analyzes the shareholder list and establishes a strategy, including schedule and quotation. After the contract is concluded, the company determines the status of shareholders by region and number of shares through the shareholder list and sends a shareholder notice and power of attorney. Afterwards, a person personally goes to the name and address in the shareholder register and receives voting rights.
Voting rights delegation agencies sometimes hire part-time workers when they are short on staff. Part-time workers receive a daily wage and per-occupancy fee, as well as a success fee. It is known that women are more competitive because they have to allow strangers to visit. It is said that there are many people who worked as insurance planners, credit card recruiters, etc. and came here due to the recession. Jobs in the insurance and credit card recruitment markets are decreasing due to fintech.
Mr. Lee (49), who participated in a part-time job with voting rights delegation, said, “Basically, I receive a daily wage worth 120,000 to 150,000 won per day, and the more delegates I receive, the more I receive as an incentive of 300,000 to 400,000 won.” He added, “Especially for those who own a large number of stocks. “If I receive a delegation from a shareholder, I can receive more fees, so I visit two or three times.”
Kim Sang-gu (41), deputy general manager of Locomotive, who is in charge of voting rights proxy strategy, said, “Normally, we only receive calls from listed companies that need voting rights around the end of January ahead of the general shareholders’ meeting in March, but this season, perhaps because they feel a sense of crisis about the agenda being rejected, they have been contacted earlier in November. “There are more companies preparing from now on,” he explained.
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