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

Samsung Electronics Pref Shares / Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>If ₩500B comes from common shares, about 40M shares retire, raising Samsung Life and Fire stakes to 10.07%, requiring a ₩0.23T block sale to trim excess.</li>
<li>Slightly smaller than last time but still notable, the insurers acted fast in February. Expect a ~0.07% block trade soon, though price impact was mild previously.</li>
<li>Watch for preferred share outperformance as phase two buyback hits 0.66% common vs. 0.81% preferred (effective buyback assuming cancellation); similar dynamics may repeat in the larger ₩4T phase three buyback.</li>
</ul>


If ₩500B comes from common shares, about 40M shares retire, raising Samsung Life and Fire stakes to 10.07%, requiring a ₩0.23T block sale to trim excess.
Slightly smaller than last time but still notable, the insurers acted fast in February. Expect a ~0.07% block trade soon, though price impact was mild previously.
Watch for preferred share outperformance as phase two buyback hits 0.66% common vs. 0.81% preferred (effective buyback assuming cancellation); similar dynamics may repeat in the larger ₩4T phase three buyback.


Samsung Electronics’ Phase 2 Buyback Disposal Plan Virtually Finalized: Two Key Trading Implications

<ul>
<li>CSOP told Korean media this Sammy ETF product targets Korea's local retail traders wanting leveraged or short KOSPI exposure, especially Sammy, without using Korea’s derivatives market—essentially a cross-border retail play.</li>
<li>Korean retail’s insanely strong demand for anything leveraged, combined with limited domestic derivatives access, makes significant local inflows very likely—far from a moonshot.</li>
<li>TRS use doesn’t guarantee 1:1 futures buying—depends on broker hedging. But, with Samsung futures volume surging, heavy retail flows in CSOP ETF could cause contango and a basis arb opportunity.</li>
</ul>


CSOP told Korean media this Sammy ETF product targets Korea's local retail traders wanting leveraged or short KOSPI exposure, especially Sammy, without using Korea’s derivatives market—essentially a cross-border retail play.
Korean retail’s insanely strong demand for anything leveraged, combined with limited domestic derivatives access, makes significant local inflows very likely—far from a moonshot.
TRS use doesn’t guarantee 1:1 futures buying—depends on broker hedging. But, with Samsung futures volume surging, heavy retail flows in CSOP ETF could cause contango and a basis arb opportunity.


CSOP Sammy ETF + Korean Retail Leverage Frenzy = Contango Basis Arb Alert

<ul>
<li>The FSS will review the subsidiary approval, with final approval expected from the FSC by early April. Market signals suggest a near-100% chance of Samsung Life getting the green light.</li>
<li>Samsung’s moves post-Lee Jae-yong’s Feb 3rd ruling signal a major pivot, setting up aggressive value-up plays across Samsung Life, Samsung Electronics, and Samsung C&amp;T.</li>
<li>Shoring up Samsung Life’s finances triggers a domino effect, positioning Samsung Electronics and Samsung C&amp;T to follow with their own shareholder-friendly moves.</li>
</ul>


The FSS will review the subsidiary approval, with final approval expected from the FSC by early April. Market signals suggest a near-100% chance of Samsung Life getting the green light.
Samsung’s moves post-Lee Jae-yong’s Feb 3rd ruling signal a major pivot, setting up aggressive value-up plays across Samsung Life, Samsung Electronics, and Samsung C&amp;T.
Shoring up Samsung Life’s finances triggers a domino effect, positioning Samsung Electronics and Samsung C&amp;T to follow with their own shareholder-friendly moves.


Samsung Life’s Official Move to Make Fire a Subsidiary: A Value-Up Play for Samsung's Big Three

<ul>
<li>Samsung Life needs FSC approval for a 10-year holding plan on its Samsung Electronics stake. Without it, the whole plan could fall apart, so it’s all about regulatory green lights.</li>
<li>If FSC approves Samsung Life's long-term holding, they can't sell those shares for at least 5 years—no exit strategy for the next half-decade due to regulatory rules.</li>
<li>Samsung Life will convert part of its stake into long-term holdings, signaling how future buybacks and special dividends will balance in Samsung Electronics' next shareholder return program.</li>
</ul>


Samsung Life needs FSC approval for a 10-year holding plan on its Samsung Electronics stake. Without it, the whole plan could fall apart, so it’s all about regulatory green lights.
If FSC approves Samsung Life's long-term holding, they can't sell those shares for at least 5 years—no exit strategy for the next half-decade due to regulatory rules.
Samsung Life will convert part of its stake into long-term holdings, signaling how future buybacks and special dividends will balance in Samsung Electronics' next shareholder return program.


Converting Samsung Life's Samsung Electronics Stake to Long-Term Holdings: Clearing up the Confusion

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Periscope Analytics

Periscope Analytics focuses on event-driven trades across Asia Pacific and provides comprehensive, timely and systematic coverage of index changes to major Asia Pacific indices in a structured manner.

The analysis includes forecasted inclusions and exclusions to all major Asian indices that have significant amount of tracking assets, including estimates of passive buy/sell flow on the stocks. The service also provides commentary and impact of market consultations, ground rule changes, and other events (IPOs, spin-offs, M&A) that could lead to index changes and passive flow.

Periscope Analytics works with multi-strategy hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, stat arb trading groups and long-only investors that invest and trade in the Asia Pacific region with the data being used to trade index rebalances, avoid pre-positioning and passive flow, and to time entry into and exit from stocks.

Event-Driven Trades Across Asia Pacific

<ul>
<li>Over the last year, the discount of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/samsung-electronics-pref-shares" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:23591:1" rel="noopener">Samsung Electronics Pref Shares (005935 KS)</a> to <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/samsung-electronics-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:191:1" rel="noopener">Samsung Electronics (005930 KS)</a> has increased from 5% to 17%.</li>
<li>The preferred shares have adequate liquidity, a large issue market cap, and now trade at a much higher dividend yield. A special dividend will further increase the dividend yield differential.</li>
<li>Breaking from history, the preferred shares discount has continued to increase as the stock has moved higher. With the preferred shares trading near its widest discount, that could change.</li>
</ul>


Over the last year, the discount of Samsung Electronics Pref Shares (005935 KS) to Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) has increased from 5% to 17%.
The preferred shares have adequate liquidity, a large issue market cap, and now trade at a much higher dividend yield. A special dividend will further increase the dividend yield differential.
Breaking from history, the preferred shares discount has continued to increase as the stock has moved higher. With the preferred shares trading near its widest discount, that could change.


Samsung Electronics: Prefs Need to Catch Up

South Korea

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. manufactures a wide range of consumer and industrial electronic equipment and products such as semiconductors, personal computers, peripherals, monitors, televisions, and home appliances including air conditioners and microwave ovens. The Company also produces Internet access network systems and telecommunications equipment including mobile phones.

Samsung Electronics Pref Shares (005935 KS)

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Samsung Electronics Pref Shares (005935 KS)

Samsung Electronics’ Phase 2 Buyback Disposal Plan Virtually Finalized: Two Key Trading Implications

This post covers the virtual finalization of Samsung Electronics’ Phase 2 buyback disposal plan and highlights two key trading implications.

Sanghyun Park

CSOP Sammy ETF + Korean Retail Leverage Frenzy = Contango Basis Arb Alert

This post covers CSOP Sammy ETF and Korean retail’s wild appetite for leveraged plays — time to gear up for a juicy basis arb if contango pops off.

Sanghyun Park

Samsung Life’s Official Move to Make Fire a Subsidiary: A Value-Up Play for Samsung's Big Three

Samsung Life's official application to incorporate Samsung Fire as a subsidiary: A value-up play for Samsung's top 3 companies: Samsung Life,...

Sanghyun Park

Converting Samsung Life's Samsung Electronics Stake to Long-Term Holdings: Clearing up the Confusion

Turning Samsung Life’s stake in Samsung Electronics into long-term holdings: Sorting out the noise and digging into the key moves that matter most...

Sanghyun Park

Samsung Electronics: Prefs Need to Catch Up

Samsung Electronics preferred shares have a large market cap, are liquid, and offer a higher div yield compared to the ordinary shares. With the...

Brian Freitas

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