College sweethearts turn rivals in one of Asia’s largest divorce claims which if awarded, may lead to a new female Asian billionaire.
She is the daughter of a former South Korean president, he is the scion of the country’s leading business family – Chey Tae-won and Roh Soh Yeong met while they were students at the University of Chicago and went on to make a mark as one of Asia’s power couples.
As head of the SK Group, Chey oversaw a conglomerate with interests in chip manufacturing, oil refining and batteries for electric cars and is worth an estimated $3 billion.
Fresh Start for $1.2 billion
In papers filed with a divorce court on Wednesday, Roh said she was finally willing to let her husband «go find the happiness he wants so desperately» in return for 42 percent of his stake in the publicly listed SK Holdings. At present market valuation, this pegs her claim at $1.2 billion and if it were awarded, Roh would be the latest entrant to the growing tribe of female billionaires in the region.
The claim is Roh’s response to a very public claim for divorce first initiated in 2017, prior to which he published a three-page letter in local newspapers discussing a child he had fathered outside of their marriage as well as his desire to separate from her.
