Before going public in 2014 Cheil merged with the Lee family's de facto holding company, Samsung Everland, and another affiliate, Samsung SDI, to create a leading producer of energy-storage solutions, including batteries for autos and consumer electronics, as well as specialty materials used in the manufacture of TVs, semiconductors and smartphones.
Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee's second daughter, Lee Seo-Hyun, is president of Cheil Industries, which started out in 1954 as a textile manufacturer and later expanded into chemicals and the fashion business.