Who owns Kelly?
Kelly is owned by HiteJinro (South Korea, KRX: 000080).[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: HiteJinro Co., Ltd. Business Report (사업보고서) for fiscal year 2025, filed with DART, 18 March 2026. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- HiteJinro Co., Ltd. reported
- Owner HQ
- 🇰🇷 South Korea
- Origin
- 🇰🇷 South Korea
- Category
- Beverages › Beer › Lager
- Parent ticker
- KRX: 000080
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Kelly
Kelly is a HiteJinro lager made with premium malt and a double-maturation process, which the company says gives it both smoothness and strong carbonation. HiteJinro counts Kelly as one of its main beer brands alongside Terra and Philite, and has extended it with a variant made with organic hops to reinforce its premium positioning.
Ownership timeline of Kelly
Where Kelly sits in HiteJinro
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full HiteJinro ownership tree →
See the full HiteJinro brand portfolio (8) →
Other brands owned by HiteJinro
HiteJinro controls 8 brands on Brandtree, 8 of them in beverages.
Also in beverages
- Chamisul
- Ilpoom Jinro
- Jinro (1924)
- Jinro Tonic Water
- Philite
- Seoksu (1982)
- Terra (2019)
Other brands in lager, and who owns them
The 200 brands in lager on Brandtree belong to 55 owners. The largest is AB InBev, with 17; HiteJinro has 3.
About the owner: HiteJinro
HiteJinro is a publicly listed company headquartered in South Korea, founded in 1924. Brandtree records 8 brands under its control, and it is listed as KRX: 000080.
HiteJinro is a South Korean drinks company founded in October 1924 as the soju maker Jinro. Hite Brewery's consortium bought Jinro out of court receivership in 2005, and the two merged and took the HiteJinro name in September 2011; HiteJinro Holdings owned 50.86 per cent at the end of 2025. Its 2025 consolidated sales were 2.50 trillion won, of which soju made 60.9 per cent, beer 30.3 per cent and bottled water 6.1 per cent.
🇰🇷 Kelly and other South Korean brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 237 brands that began in South Korea. 12 of them (5%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Kelly is not one of them.
- 17 Cha — Namyang Dairy 🇰🇷
- A Café La — Binggrae 🇰🇷
- Barista Rules — Maeil Dairies 🇰🇷
- Boseong Green Tea — Dongwon Industries 🇰🇷
- Cass — AB InBev 🇧🇪
- Chum Churum Soonhari — Lotte Chilsung 🇰🇷
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Kelly?
The parent company of Kelly is HiteJinro, a publicly listed company headquartered in South Korea.
Is Kelly South Korean?
Yes. Kelly originated in South Korea and its owner, HiteJinro, is also headquartered in South Korea.
Is Kelly still owned by HiteJinro?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Kelly is still owned by HiteJinro. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] HiteJinro Co., Ltd. Business Report (사업보고서) for fiscal year 2025, filed with DART — HiteJinro Co., Ltd., Stock exchange filing, published 18 March 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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