Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>Hyundai Motor Group has become the largest shareholder of KT Corp, as the National Pension Service has recently reduced its stake in KT from 8.53% previously to 7.51%. </li>
<li>Despite this recent change in the largest shareholder status of KT Corp, this requires the approval from the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT. </li>
<li>Although the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) has become the largest owner in KT Corp, the most likely scenario is for HMG to remain a passive investor in KT.</li>
</ul>


Hyundai Motor Group has become the largest shareholder of KT Corp, as the National Pension Service has recently reduced its stake in KT from 8.53% previously to 7.51%. 
Despite this recent change in the largest shareholder status of KT Corp, this requires the approval from the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT. 
Although the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) has become the largest owner in KT Corp, the most likely scenario is for HMG to remain a passive investor in KT.


Hyundai Motor Group Becomes the Largest Shareholder of KT Corp

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.

<ul>
<li>KT's foreign ownership declined since January, below 7.5% by last month. If it remains, the adjustment factor halves to 0.25, impacting KT's Global Index weight.</li>
<li>With the May review screening date estimated for April 17th, swift reversal of foreign inflows seems improbable. Thus, KT's adjustment factor dropping to 0.25 is likely.</li>
<li>This could lead to an outflow of 1.6M shares, approximately 3x ADTV. Given the prolonged price impact on telcos, exploring a long-short setup with SKT might be prudent.</li>
</ul>


KT's foreign ownership declined since January, below 7.5% by last month. If it remains, the adjustment factor halves to 0.25, impacting KT's Global Index weight.
With the May review screening date estimated for April 17th, swift reversal of foreign inflows seems improbable. Thus, KT's adjustment factor dropping to 0.25 is likely.
This could lead to an outflow of 1.6M shares, approximately 3x ADTV. Given the prolonged price impact on telcos, exploring a long-short setup with SKT might be prudent.


KT's Foreign Room Below 7.5%, Weight Down-Adjustment Expected in May, Resulting in 3x ADTV Outflow

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>FSC Chairman Kim Joo-hyun mentioned that too many companies in Korea are trading below book value and the FSC plans to implement changes to improve upon this issue. </li>
<li>According to Korea Exchange, 1,111 companies out of total listed in KOSPI and KOSDAQ in Korea (2,538) are trading at below 1x book value (PBR) (liquidation value). </li>
<li>According to the Capital Group, about 39% of companies in the TOPIX trade below book value, compared to just 5% for companies in the S&amp;P 500 Index. </li>
</ul>


FSC Chairman Kim Joo-hyun mentioned that too many companies in Korea are trading below book value and the FSC plans to implement changes to improve upon this issue. 
According to Korea Exchange, 1,111 companies out of total listed in KOSPI and KOSDAQ in Korea (2,538) are trading at below 1x book value (PBR) (liquidation value). 
According to the Capital Group, about 39% of companies in the TOPIX trade below book value, compared to just 5% for companies in the S&amp;P 500 Index. 


44% of Korean Stocks Are Trading Below Book Value - FSC Wants to Improve This (Following Japan)

<ul>
<li>Given Korea's blanket ban on short-selling, we should concentrate on the likelihood of these ADRs being significantly discounted compared to their underlying shares.</li>
<li>It should persist for an extended period, highlighting the importance of continuously monitoring ADR spreads over the next 2-3 months to seize the opportune entry timing.</li>
<li>Since all these carry single-stock futures, a flexible setup targeting this spread can be designed, ideally incorporating currency hedges.</li>
</ul>


Given Korea's blanket ban on short-selling, we should concentrate on the likelihood of these ADRs being significantly discounted compared to their underlying shares.
It should persist for an extended period, highlighting the importance of continuously monitoring ADR spreads over the next 2-3 months to seize the opportune entry timing.
Since all these carry single-stock futures, a flexible setup targeting this spread can be designed, ideally incorporating currency hedges.


Trading Opportunities Targeting Potential ADR Discount Increases from Korea's Short-Selling Ban

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>We remain constructive on global equities as long as the MSCI ACWI (ACWI-US) holds above major support at $90.50-91.50.</li>
<li>We continue to monitor for whether ACWI-US and EEM-US break supports at $90.50-91.50 and $37, or if broken indexes (EURO STOXX 50, MSCI ACWI ex-US, EAFE) can reclaim supports.</li>
<li>Neither has happened yet, so we remain in wait-and-see mode. We are downgrading non-US small-caps to market weight. Non-US Value remains leadership -- remain overweight/buys in Financials and Communications</li>
</ul>


We remain constructive on global equities as long as the MSCI ACWI (ACWI-US) holds above major support at $90.50-91.50.
We continue to monitor for whether ACWI-US and EEM-US break supports at $90.50-91.50 and $37, or if broken indexes (EURO STOXX 50, MSCI ACWI ex-US, EAFE) can reclaim supports.
Neither has happened yet, so we remain in wait-and-see mode. We are downgrading non-US small-caps to market weight. Non-US Value remains leadership -- remain overweight/buys in Financials and Communications


MSCI ACWI, MSCI EM Still Above Supports; Buys in Global Value - Financials and Communications

South Korea

KT Corporation provides telecommunication services including local, long distance, and international calling, satellite communication, data transmission, and wireless telephone services in South Korea.  The Company also offers network portal and high-speed Internet access services using asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSLs).

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KT Corp (030200 KS)

Hyundai Motor Group Becomes the Largest Shareholder of KT Corp

On 9 May, KT Corp (030200 KS) announced that it will cancel 5.1 million treasury shares (about 2% of outstanding shares), representing...

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KT's Foreign Room Below 7.5%, Weight Down-Adjustment Expected in May, Resulting in 3x ADTV Outflow

Screening base date is likely on April 17th. KT's FIF cut to 25% is certain. 3 additions might join the Global Index despite stricter extreme price...

Sanghyun Park

44% of Korean Stocks Are Trading Below Book Value - FSC Wants to Improve This (Following Japan)

A 44% of Korean stocks are trading below book value. FSC wants to improve this, following Japan's "name and shame" policy.

Douglas Kim

Trading Opportunities Targeting Potential ADR Discount Increases from Korea's Short-Selling Ban

This post explores trading opportunities targeting potential ADR discount increases resulting from Korea's blanket ban on short selling.

Sanghyun Park

MSCI ACWI, MSCI EM Still Above Supports; Buys in Global Value - Financials and Communications

MSCI $ACWI, MSCI EM $EEM Still Above Supports at $90.50-$91.50 and $37, though being tested today. Meanwhile, broken indexes (EURO $STOXX 50,...

Vermilion Research

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