Samsung C&T president Choi Chi-hoon was named executive chairman of the "new" Samsung C&T, the de facto holding company of Samsung Group, the nation’s largest conglomerate.
The company said, its board of directors held the meeting on Wednesday and elected him the first chairperson. Choi served as chief at General Electric's Asia Pacific region before joining Samsung Electronics in 2007.
Known as a "financial guru" within Samsung Group, he also served as chiefs at Samsung Group’s energy and financial arms Samsung SDI and Samsung Card. As the closest aides of Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, Choi took the lead in the latest merger between Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T.
He said in a speech marking the merger, "Through the deal, we have created more balanced business portfolio with both growth potential and safety. Securing bio business as a new growth engine, we made a historic leap forward to become the top-notch company."
Samsung C&T also named Kim Shin as chief in trading & investment group, Yoon Joo-hwa, head of its new fashion unit and Kim Bong-yung, chief of the resort and construction division.
