Lotte’s heir apparent takes executive position
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dongbin’s oldest son Shin Yoo-yeol, who is also known as Satoshi Shigemitsu, was appointed recently as an executive of Lotte Chemical Japan, two years after he started working for Lotte Japan and Tokyo-headquartered Lotte Holdings, according to industry officials, Sunday.
His latest appointment has been widely interpreted as Lotte’s preparations to hand over the group’s control to him in the future, as his father took a similar path.
The Lotte chairman graduated from college in Japan and earned an MBA from Columbia University in New York, and then worked for Nomura Securities and Lotte Japan. At the age of 35 in 1990, he joined Honam Petrochemical which was renamed Lotte Chemical.
The younger Shin also graduated from college in Japan and got an MBA from Columbia University. Before joining Lotte Chemical, the 36-year-old also worked for Nomura Securities and Lotte Japan.
In addition, he has become more likely to inherit control of the group from his father, considering the fact that his uncle, former Lotte Holdings Vice Chairman and SDJ Corporation Chairman Shin Dong-joo, has repeatedly failed in his attempt to wrestle control away from the Lotte chairman.
Last month, the SDJ Corporation chairman was ordered by the Tokyo District Court to compensate 480 million yen ($3.7 million) to Lotte Services, a subsidiary of Lotte Holdings, for his negligence in duties as a director of Lotte Services between 2011 and 2014.
In 2015, he was dismissed from Lotte affiliates for his management failures. Although he filed lawsuits in 2017 against Lotte Holdings and its affiliates, the Supreme Court of Japan ruled against him in 2019, allowing his brother to consolidate his control as chairman.
Industry officials expect the chairman’s son to be naturalized as a Korean citizen after 2024 when he turns 38 years old. At this age, one can acquire Korean citizenship regardless of the completion of military service.
His father, who had both Korean and Japanese citizenship, gave up the latter when he turned 41 years old, because men younger than 40 were not allowed to be exempt from military service at that time.
Once the heir apparent becomes a Korean citizen, he is expected to increase his stake in Lotte affiliates in Korea.