CJ CheilJedang has decided not to dispose of the green bio business, valued at 6 trillion won.
The move may be construed by the company’s strategic decision to cope with rapidly changing business environment conditions to avoid pressure from the U.S. administration’s tariff policies.
Instead, CJ CheilJedang plans to seek to forge strategic partnerships with foreign companies to ramp up the competitiveness of the bio business.
CJ CheilJedang said in a public notice on April 30 that the company has no plan to sell the bio business. The company held negotiations to dispose of its bio business with MBK Partners, a private equity fund, until recently.
The initial value of the bio business was estimated at some 6 trillion won.
CJ CheilJedang’s turnabout in the disposal of the bio business is owed to external changes, which have raised the competitiveness of its bio business.
CJ CheilJedang is the sole company with a production center in the United States among global green bio companies, so the company feel less restricted from the President Trump administration’s tariff policies, being placed in a better position to secure an upper hand over rivals in the green bio sector.
EU’s imposing of an antidumping duty against Chinese-made lysine could raise CJ CheilJedang’s price competitiveness.
CJ CheilJedang has 11 production centers in several countries, including the United States, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil.
These plants are outfitted with capacities to alternate several products, thus coping with outside environment changes, such as tariff policies.
CJ CheilJedang’s key bio segment is the green bio sector in which a variety of useful substances are produced industrially by making the most of the functions and information of living organizations.
The green bio sector involves the production of new functional substances based on microorganisms and plants, such as bio foods and bio-agriculture, plant seeds and additives.
A CJ CheilJedang official said, “We will nurture the bio business instead of disposing of it.” To this end, CJ CheilJedang plans to explore synergetic effects by exploring strategic partnerships with foreign prominent companies and expanding product portfolio with a focus on specialty products.
The company plans to strengthen the roles of the plant in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Meanwhile, CJ CheilJedang saw the bio business chalk up 4,209.5 billion won in sales and 337.6 billion won in operating profit in 2024.
The 2024 operating profit is a jump from 251.3 billion won in 2023.
CJ Group Vice Chmn. Miky Lee. (Photo: CJ Group)
CJ Vice Chmn. Miky Lee Takes Home Ellis Island Medal of Honor
CJ Group Vice Chmn. Miky Lee was selected as the winner of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the Ellis Island Honors Society.
Vice Chmn. Lee was honored with the award in recognition of her contributions to the global entertainment market and improving mutual understanding beyond cultural barriers.
“We are thrilled to include Miky Lee as one of this year’s prestigious honorees,” the Ellis Island Honors Society said in announcing Lee’s selection.
The Ellis Island Medal of Honor, inaugurated in 1986, is awarded to leaders of several fields with diverse backgrounds in recognition of contributing to the American society.
Honorees of the award, recognized by the U.S. federal government, have been put in the Congressional Record.
Among the past’s honorees were eight former U.S. presidents and other prominent figures, including former U.S. state secretary Henry Kissinger and the late singer Frank Sinatra.
Globally recognized figures in several sectors, including Vice Chmn. Lee, Academy Award best actor Adrian Brody, Novel Prize winner Jamese Elison, and Pfizer Chmn. Albert Bula join this year’s roster.
“We are thrilled to include Miky Lee as one of this year’s prestigious honorees,” the Ellis Island Honors Society said in announcing Lee’s selection.
“Over the past three decades, Miky Lee, vice chair of CJ Group, has been instrumental in elevating Korean culture to the world stage.
As the executive producer of groundbreaking films like ‘Parasite’ — the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for best picture — and ‘Decision to Leave,’ she has played a pivotal role in bringing Korean cinema to international prominence.”
For the past 30 years, Vice Chmn. Lee has been credited with leading the globalization of the Korean culture industry and her contribution to recognizing the international standing of diverse content, such as film, drama and music by bridging the East and the West.
She won scores of prizes, including 2022 International Emmy Directorate Award from the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Pillar Award from the U.S. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
An awards ceremony will be held in New York on May 10.
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