Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Douglas Research Advisory

Equity Bottom-Up

SK Holdings Co., Ltd. is a holdings company that is engaged in various industries including energy, chemicals, information technology, semiconductors, marketing, and services businesses in South Korea and internationally.

<ul>
<li>Three main reasons why SK Inc is our high conviction in 2026 include mandatory cancellation of treasury shares, deep discount to NAV, and the end of divorce for Chairman Chey. </li>
<li>SK Inc has 17.98 million shares in treasury, representing 24.8% of outstanding shares. Among the stocks included in KOSPI200, this is one of the highest percentage of treasury shares.</li>
<li>Our NAV valuation analysis suggests NAV of 28 trillion won or NAV per share of 386,469 won. This represents a 46% upside to its current price.</li>
</ul>


Three main reasons why SK Inc is our high conviction in 2026 include mandatory cancellation of treasury shares, deep discount to NAV, and the end of divorce for Chairman Chey. 
SK Inc has 17.98 million shares in treasury, representing 24.8% of outstanding shares. Among the stocks included in KOSPI200, this is one of the highest percentage of treasury shares.
Our NAV valuation analysis suggests NAV of 28 trillion won or NAV per share of 386,469 won. This represents a 46% upside to its current price.


Korea / Special Situations, Clepsydra Capital

Sanghyun Park

Korea / Special Situations

Korea / Special Sits, Pairs, Index Rebalancing

Clepsydra Capital

Investigate special situations, pairs, and index rebalancing trades in Korea.

Event-Driven

Hyundai Motor Company manufactures, sells, and exports passenger cars, trucks, and commercial vehicles. The Company also sells various auto parts and operates auto repair service centers throughout South Korea. Hyundai Motor provides financial services through its subsidiaries.

<ul>
<li>Names outside the new tax regime may hike year-end payouts, with gov’t push boosting odds despite fuzzy timing, drawing local desk interest.</li>
<li>With timing murky, local desks are targeting high-yield names, 25–40% FY25 payout, and ~10%+ DPS growth as prime candidates for year-end dividend hikes ahead of AGMs.</li>
<li>Nine first-tier names (25–40% payout, &lt;10% DPS growth, 3%+ yield) are prime dividend plays; five second-tier names (20–25% payout) need monitoring for potential Q4 expense tweaks.</li>
</ul>


Names outside the new tax regime may hike year-end payouts, with gov’t push boosting odds despite fuzzy timing, drawing local desk interest.
With timing murky, local desks are targeting high-yield names, 25–40% FY25 payout, and ~10%+ DPS growth as prime candidates for year-end dividend hikes ahead of AGMs.
Nine first-tier names (25–40% payout, &lt;10% DPS growth, 3%+ yield) are prime dividend plays; five second-tier names (20–25% payout) need monitoring for potential Q4 expense tweaks.


Local Desks Target Year-End Dividend Boost Trading Setup

Equity Capital Markets

SEMIFIVE is a leading design solution provider and pioneer of platform-based custom silicon solutions.

<ul>
<li>SemiFive confirmed its IPO price at 24,000 won, which was at the high end of the IPO price range. </li>
<li>A 43.9% of the total IPO shares are under various lock-up periods lasting from 15 days to 6 months. This is also a bullish sign. </li>
<li>Our base case valuation of SemiFive is implied market cap of 1.4 trillion won or target price of 42,349 won per share, which is 76% higher than the IPO price.</li>
</ul>


SemiFive confirmed its IPO price at 24,000 won, which was at the high end of the IPO price range. 
A 43.9% of the total IPO shares are under various lock-up periods lasting from 15 days to 6 months. This is also a bullish sign. 
Our base case valuation of SemiFive is implied market cap of 1.4 trillion won or target price of 42,349 won per share, which is 76% higher than the IPO price.


SemiFive IPO Bookbuilding Results Analysis

Senior Credit Analyst, Lucror Analytics

Leonard Law, CFA

Senior Credit Analyst

High Yield Experts

Lucror Analytics

Lucror Analytics is a leading credit and ESG research specialist and a provider of technology solutions for differentiated fixed income strategies. Our roots are in bottom-up fundamental credit analysis with a specialization in high yield corporate credits from Europe, Asia and Latin America. We are one of few research specialists integrating ESG considerations with fundamental credit research through a dedicated ESG platform. Our ESG assessment covers five key criteria: Disclosure, E,S, & G Pillars, Controversies, ESG Impact on Credit and ESG Momentum.

Recognizing the importance and value-add of Factor Investing in fixed income, Lucror developed the Smart Quant Navigator (SQN), an intuitive platform that helps clients devise and implement factor-based strategies ranging from pure quant to active fundamental, with integrated ESG.

Our company has been at the forefront of developments in the fixed income markets, identifying opportunities and consistently delivering new products and value-adding solutions to clients. Lucror has close relationships with the largest and most reputable asset managers, family offices, hedge funds, investment and wealth managers globally.

Credit

<ul>
<li>In today's Morning Views publication we comment on developments of the following high yield issuers: Hanwha TotalEnergies, Vedanta Resources.</li>
<li>Hanwha TotalEnergies Petrochemical (HTP) is a vertically integrated petrochemicals producer in South Korea.</li>
<li>The company produces a range of commodity chemicals, including base chemicals (olefins and aromatics), polymers (e.g. polyethylene and polypropylene) and energy products (jet fuel and diesel).</li>
</ul>


In today's Morning Views publication we comment on developments of the following high yield issuers: Hanwha TotalEnergies, Vedanta Resources.
Hanwha TotalEnergies Petrochemical (HTP) is a vertically integrated petrochemicals producer in South Korea.
The company produces a range of commodity chemicals, including base chemicals (olefins and aromatics), polymers (e.g. polyethylene and polypropylene) and energy products (jet fuel and diesel).


Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>The Materials sector stands out as a key recovery candidate: low positioning but strong positive rotation across the GEM active universe.</li>
<li>Early inflows are being driven by China &amp; HK and South Africa, with rising fund participation and narrowing underweights.</li>
<li>Stock-Level rotation is visible in Gold Fields, Zijin Mining, and Anglo American, alongside a growing set of lightly held rising stars.</li>
</ul>


The Materials sector stands out as a key recovery candidate: low positioning but strong positive rotation across the GEM active universe.
Early inflows are being driven by China &amp; HK and South Africa, with rising fund participation and narrowing underweights.
Stock-Level rotation is visible in Gold Fields, Zijin Mining, and Anglo American, alongside a growing set of lightly held rising stars.


South Korea
Insights on South Korea

2026 High Conviction Idea: SK Inc

SK Inc. has selected Doosan Corp. as the preferred bidder for the sale of its 70.6% stake in SK Siltron. With the entire company valued at around 5...

Douglas Kim

Local Desks Target Year-End Dividend Boost Trading Setup

Local desks in Korea are zeroing in on a trading setup targeting dividend boosts from now through early next year, ahead of AGMs.

Sanghyun Park

SemiFive IPO Bookbuilding Results Analysis

SemiFive confirmed its IPO price at 24,000 won, which was at the high end of the IPO price range. A 43.9% of the total IPO shares are under various...

Douglas Kim

Lucror Analytics - Morning Views Asia

In today's Morning Views publication we comment on developments of the following high yield issuers: Hanwha TotalEnergies, Vedanta Resources

Lucror Analytics

EM Materials: The Recovery Trade

Materials is emerging from deep under-ownership, combining low positioning with the strongest positive rotation in GEM. Inflows into China and S....

Steven Holden