Good News for CJ
On August 11, the stock price of CJ rose 1.52% to 200,000 won per share, continuing to rise for the fourth consecutive session. This is mainly because it is said that chairman Lee Jae-hyun has been included in the special pardon list for the National Liberation Day.
The chairman was imprisoned in June 2013 for embezzlement and professional negligence. Then, the CJ Group’s investment strategies and decision-making processes lost their directions right away. Its Great CJ 2020 Vision lost its way as well. The vision is to achieve at least 100 trillion won in sales revenue, 10 trillion won in operating profit and 70% in overseas sales ratio by 2020.
The CJ Group is expected to beef up its investment strategies to a significant extent once the chairman is given a pardon. Back in 2012, the group’s total investment hit an all-time high of 2.9 trillion won. However, the amount dropped to 1.9 trillion won or so in 2013 and to 1.7 trillion won last year.
A series of M&A deals are expected to follow, too. During the past three years, CJ lost an investment of approximately 7.7 trillion won by failing in such deals with Meihua Holdings (two trillion won), Coway (three trillion won), Dongbu Express (700 billion won), etc.