■ Establishing a system to ensure independent management by businesses, seeking to maximize business/corporate value by laying a solid foundation for future growth

■ Company names ‘SK On’ were confirmed for battery and ‘SK Earthon’ for E&P businesses, reflecting ESG and global growth

– President of Battery business Jee Dong-seob and President of E&P business Myeong Seong appointed as CEOs for respective companies

■ SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun, “This marks the structural completion of a portfolio innovation after which SK Innovation has been eagerly sought, and a new starting point for another 60 years in heightening corporate values with the acceleration of our financial story”

SK Innovation announced that new corporations from the spin-off of the existing battery and E&P businesses have officially established on October 1, 2021. As for the respective corporate names, the battery business has chosen ‘SK On’ and the E&P business has settled on ‘SK Earthon.’

SK Innovation had approved the spin-off of two companies in its Board of Directors meeting on August 3, and confirmed the decision at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on September 16 with an 80.2% approval rate. SK Innovation will have the two new companies as subsidiaries and hold 100% stakes for the two.

“Today marks the important footstep for SK Innovation to consummate a structural form of a portfolio innovation that we have been sought”, said SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun. “Based on eight-independent-business enterprise-system, we will steer the financial story with full steam ahead and gather our strength to further elevate our corporate value with reinforced ESG management. We will open a new chapter of another 60-year history to raise our corporate value with accelerated implementation of financial story.”

ㅣ Launch of SK On, a turning point for securing global competitiveness for battery business

The new corporate name for the battery business, ‘SK On’ has a double entendre referring to ‘turning ON’ and ‘going ON.’ The corporate name encapsulates SK On’s will to take a big step towards becoming the No. 1 company in the global battery industry.

Elected as the CEO of SK On, President Jee Dong-seob is a savvy businessman well-versed in various business strategies as he joined the company at the time of Korea Oil Corporation in 1990 and served the company as Head of Future Management and Head of Strategy & Planning Office of SK Telecom. He had been engaged in establishing a lasting cooperative tie with global automakers after being appointed to the President of SK Lubricants. After that, he was named President of SK Innovation’s Battery Business in December 2019 and has been leading the global growth of the business.

SK On CEO Jee Dong-seob stated, “SK On will provide the market with the safest, fastest, and most durable and reliable products and services. To do so, we will establish an independent management system that is capable of promptly responding to market changes and keep on rising as an undisputed leader in the global EV battery industry by bolstering our business expertise and global competitiveness.

SK On has kicked off as a battery business division of SK Innovation and is based on the company’s accumulated battery researches dating back to the early 1990s. Since 2017 when it started to expand the investment, it has shown rapid growth with more than double the year-over-year growth rate.

SK On intends to make the most out of this spin-off to advance the company as a leading global company by 2030. According to the plan, its current global battery production capacity of 40GWh per year will be expanded to 85 GWh in 2023, 220 GWh in 2025, and over 500 GWh in 2030. In addition, the company is making a remarkable stride as it recently committed to increase the scale of investment in a joint venture with Ford from 60 GWh to 129 GWh.

With the robust growth, the company’s present order backlog has well-exceeded 1,000 GWh, shooting it to the top of the industry.

Moreover, it plans to explore various new markets for batteries such as Energy Storage System (ESS), flying cars, and robots, while broadening its scope that includes not only battery products but also battery service expediting the drivers of new growth engines such as Battery as a Service (BaaS).

ㅣ Launch of SK Earthon to realize ‘Carbon to Green’ strategy and ensue growth

Exploration & Production (E&P) business’s new corporate name ‘SK Earthon’ is a coined word combining ‘earth’ for ‘the globe’ or ‘terrain’, and ‘on’ for ‘continuation.’ SK Earthon connotes the message of “Realizing the value of resources based on technical prowess and expertise, and turning on the hope of green business that promises a sustainable future.”

Newly appointed SK Earthon CEO Myeong Seong joined the company when it was under the former name of Korea Oil Corporation in 1995, and is an E&P expert who served various positions including Head of Bogota Branch, Leader of Exploration Business in E&P Business. He was also the Head of Happiness Design Office of SK Innovation in 2019. Since becoming the President of E&P business in 2021, he has been leading the company to sharpen its competitive edges and exploring green business.

“As an independent corporation, we will start to establish a structure that ensures fast and effective decision-making and the realization of various growth options based on expertise,” said SK Earthon CEO Myeong Seong. “On top of that, SK Earthon will identify and develop a green business portfolio as a new growth axis and definitely crown it with success to make a sustainable growth,” he continued.

Capitalizing on its long-accumulated experience and competency in the oil exploration business, SK Earthon plans to build an environmentally friendly green portfolio to reduce and minimize carbon emissions.

Along with the construction and operation of environmentally-friendly facilities that minimize carbon emissions in oil fields, the company will expand into a green business in full swing with Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) business, which can be a permanent solution to treat carbon.

[Photos]

▲ (Left) Jee Dong-seob, CEO of SK On / (Right) Myeong Seong, CEO of SK Earthon

▲ (Left) Corporate identity of SK On / (Right) Corporate identity of SK Earthon