Shares of food maker Ottogi Corp. shot up 18 percent in early session on Monday upon news that the chief executive of the food maker with annual sales of less than $2 billion was invited by President Moon Jae-in to his first meetings with the country’s biggest tycoons.

Ottogi with assets of 1.59 trillion won ($1.43 billion) stood up among the 14 invitees bearing household corporate names like Samsung, Hyundai, SK, and LG. The Blue House specifically mentioned the company as a poster child of the new government’s economic slogan of increased hiring and eased income disparities.

Shares of Ottogi Monday closed 7.25 percent up at 799,000 won after going up as high as 819,000 won during the day.

Ottogi Corp. Chairman Ham Yeong-jun upon inheriting 465,543 shares, 13.53 percent stake in the company from his father, willingly has been paying 150 billion won in inheritance tax over five years after his father passed away in September 2016. Such move is rare in family-run Korean enterprises as chaebols usually resort to illicit means to pay as little tax as possible.

Of its workers just 1.2 percent is not on the permanent payroll, also a rare case in Korean business community with high share of contract-based workers. The new administration has been encouraging employers to convert irregular workers to regular basis.

By Sohn Il-seon and Yoon Jin-ho

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]