Daily Brief South Korea: SK Telecom, SK Innovation, Hanmi Pharm and more

In today’s briefing:

Key Findings on When to Enter Long-Short in the SKT Foreign Room Trade
SK Innovation’s Subsidiary SK Geo Centric to Sell Its Entire 35% Stake in Sinopec-SK Petrochem JV
Hanmi Pharm (128940 KS): Domestic Business Fuels 2Q Result; New Launches to Drive Near-Term Growth

Key Findings on When to Enter Long-Short in the SKT Foreign Room Trade

SKT’s foreign stake drop sparked early divergence vs KT—long SKT/short KT paying off, though KT’s hacking risk muddies how much is pure event-driven.
This isn’t an add/delete, just a weight bump—flows lag until announcement. Aug ’20 SKT doubling factor is the cleanest comp for today’s setup.
SKT vs KT spread widened post-screening; SKT outperformed 12%. Weight bumps lag vs ins/outs, so expect similar flow—timing long-short entry matters to avoid bleeding carry.

On 16 September, it was reported in the local media that SK Innovation’s subsidiary SK Geo Centric plans to sell its entire 35% stake in the Sinopec-SK Petrochem JV.
The transaction is expected to be priced closed to its book value of about 819 billion won. Sinopec is a leading potential buyer.
From 2020 to 2024, SK Geo Centric generated cumulative operating profit of 695 billion won, accounting for 12.7% of SK Innovation’s cumulative operating profit in this period.

Hanmi Pharm (128940 KS) recorded 6% YoY revenue growth in domestic business in 2Q25, on continued growth of Rosuzet and stable revenue from Amosartan and Esomezol family of drugs.
The company has launched two new drugs in 2Q25. The company has co-launched Prolia biosimilar in Korea. Next-generation low dose triple antihypertensive, Amoprel has been launched in August.
Hanmi Pharm is advancing HM17321, a first-in-class obesity therapy, into global Phase 1 trials. With the leadership dispute overhang removed, Hanmi Pharm seems to be on the path of revival.

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