Chairman Koo Ja-yol (Christopher) of LS Cable and System Co. took over as chairman of LS Group from his cousin Ja-hong (John), who has been the chairman of the splinter group from LG Group since 2003, based on a decision of the owner families of the three Koo brothers, the group announced on Nov. 11.

The three brothers, Tae-hoe, Pyong-hoe, and Doo-hoe, split from LG Group, taking a number of companies with them and leaving the group under the management of their eldest brother In-hoe, the founder of LS Group.

The three families met during the funeral of the late honorary Chairman Koo Pyong-hoe of E1 Co. on Oct. 20 and agreed that Ja-yol, 59, the eldest son of the late chairman, will take over as chairman of LS Group from his cousin Ja-hong, 66, who will move to LS Future Institute as chairman. The change will officially take place on Jan. 2, 2013.

The three families agreed on the personnel moves, and other moves involving the top managers of the group’s affiliates will be announced in March at the shareholders meeting, the group said.

Koo Ja-yeop, chairman of LS Industrial Systems, will become chairman of LS Cable, and Koo Ja-kyun, a younger brother of Chairman Ja-yol, will take over as CEO of LS Industrial Systems.

LS Group officials said the group has been managed by the two cousins, Ja-hong and Ja-yol, since the group was launched, which is a rare development in the business community.

Chairman Koo Ja-hong, while running the group for the past 10 years, expanded the group’s annual sales by four times and operating profit by three times through M&As and the expansion of the affiliates’ plant facilities, bringing LS Group to 13th in Korea in terms of assets. In the initial year of operations, the group’s turnover amounted to around 7 trillion won, but has since risen to around 30 trillion won last year in business areas ranging from electric, electronics, materials, and energy, to name just a few key areas.

The group has expanded to such new growth areas as smart grid, new and recycled energy, core parts of electric cars, green business, and natural resources exploration overseas. Former chairman Ja-hong is expected to continue to oversee the group’s operations through consultations on important matters, projecting no big changes in the group’s management.

But others expect many changes in the group’s management including a strong push for further globalization and reform by the new chairman, knowing the incoming chairman’s strong leadership and challenging style of management. He used to say, “No reform, no progress.” His strength was in M&As. While he was running LS Cable, the company took over Superior Essex, a U.S. electric wire company in 2008, and in 2009, the company took over Hongchi Wire in China to strengthen its global position in electric wire production. The company also took on the production of undersea cable and investments in China during the tenure of Chairman Koo Ja-yol. The company hung on to the cable business, while its rivals diversified their business lines into such areas as real estate and construction and found themselves in tough situations. Koo’s strategy worked so well that the company has grown big enough to rank the third largest among global cable makers. 

Koo’s social status has also been upgraded along the way. He currently is chairman of the Science and Technology Committee of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) and chairman of the Korean Cycling Federation. Seeing Koo’s intensive activities, industry sources believe there will be dynamic changes in LS Group under his active leadership.