Sejong law firm launches shareholder engagement advisory service for listed companies

Sejong Law Group announced Wednesday it is launching a dedicated advisory service to help listed companies respond proactively and systematically to growing shareholder engagement by institutional investors.

South Korea's capital markets have seen a series of legal and regulatory changes broadening the scope of institutional investor engagement. Earlier this month, a bill to introduce a mandatory tender offer regime was pulled from a National Assembly plenary vote following a joint statement by domestic and foreign asset managers. Then, on Oct. 7, a proposed amendment to the Capital Markets Act was introduced that would allow pension funds and other institutional investors to exercise voting rights jointly without triggering joint-holding disclosure obligations — a change expected to significantly lower the threshold for coordinated engagement among institutions.

Adding to the shift, a fully revised stewardship code takes effect next January, expanding the scope of institutional investor engagement, spelling out engagement procedures in greater detail, and formalizing compliance monitoring. With financial regulators announcing plans to share monitoring results with major pension funds, shareholder activism by pension funds themselves — as well as year-round letters from asset managers, requests for private dialogue, and shareholder proposals — is expected to accelerate further.

Against this backdrop, Sejong's Corporate Governance Research Institute aims to help companies treat institutional investor engagement not as a management burden or risk, but as an opportunity to enhance corporate value and build market credibility, through tailored advisory services.

The service covers seven areas: analysis of policies and trends at major institutional investors and proxy advisory firms; monitoring and response to coordinated engagement among institutional investors; establishing board-level response principles; support for responding to institutional investor letters, private dialogue requests, and meeting preparation; pre-screening of director candidates against voting standards; advisory on shareholder meeting agendas and corporate value enhancement disclosures; and ongoing advisory on shareholder engagement matters. Through these services, Sejong said it will help companies build a consistent, structured communication framework on key management issues rather than reacting to institutional demands after the fact.

"The expansion of institutional investor engagement is a structural shift in capital markets, and companies need to change their mindset — viewing communication with institutional investors not as a cost but as an investment that enhances corporate value and market credibility," said Lee Dong-gun, managing partner of Sejong. "Drawing on the legal expertise and practical experience of our Corporate Governance Research Institute, we will provide one-stop services to help companies build a trust-based communication framework with institutional investors."

The Corporate Governance Research Institute, which operates under Sejong's Corporate Governance Strategy Center, is led by Senior Expert Committee Member Ahn Hyo-seop, who previously served as head of the governance division at Samsung, Hyundai Group and the Korea ESG Research Institute, and Expert Committee Member Yoon Tae-jun, who has worked at Samsung Global Research and the Korea ESG Research Institute. They collaborate with Managing Partner Lee and attorney Lee Suk-mi, both specialists in corporate governance and management control disputes. The institute provides legal advisory services spanning corporate governance broadly — including director candidate screening, shareholder return and investor relations strategy, corporate value enhancement planning, related disclosure and succession strategy advisory, board operation improvement, and executive compensation policy.

Meanwhile, Sejong's Corporate Advisory and M&A Group draws on a team of roughly 100 professionals — including senior practitioners with more than 30 years of experience, next-generation veteran lawyers, and foreign attorneys specializing in cross-border transactions — to deliver comprehensive solutions. The group has been recognized for its expertise by Chambers & Partners, the London-based global law firm ranking organization, which has named it a Band 1 M&A firm for seven consecutive years from 2020 through 2026. Building on landmark deals such as the merger of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Mipo, the group has continued to demonstrate its M&A capabilities this year by leading sale advisory mandates for Hyundai IFC, Kakao Games and SK Eternix.