South Korea Archives | Page 15 of 126

Jul 17

Daily Brief South Korea: Kum Yang and more

By Smartkarma Daily Briefs | Daily Briefs, South Korea

In today’s briefing:

Will A Saudi Arabian Investment Company Save Kum Yang From Delisting?

Will A Saudi Arabian Investment Company Save Kum Yang From Delisting?

By Douglas Kim

In this insight, we discuss whether a Saudi Arabian investment company (SKAEEB) could save Kum Yang (001570 KS) from delisting.
There are several aspects of this deal with SKAEEB that are a bit fishy.
1) A 50% Market Premium is Not Justified; 2) Does SKAEEB have enough money? 3) Control does not change

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Jul 16

Daily Brief South Korea: Netmarble , SK Telecom, Dong A St and more

By Smartkarma Daily Briefs | Daily Briefs, South Korea

In today’s briefing:

Netmarble Is Considering on Issuing EB Worth 250 Billion Won Backed by Its Stake in HYBE
Div Tax Intel Drop: Street Pivoting to Forward Yield Plays (Consensus Data Excel Attached)
Dong A St (170900 KS): Five Reasons Why Performance Improvement Is Expected

Netmarble Is Considering on Issuing EB Worth 250 Billion Won Backed by Its Stake in HYBE

By Douglas Kim

According to the local media, Netmarble is considering on issuing exchangeable bonds (EB) worth about 250 billion won backed by its stake in HYBE.
The potential EB issue is likely to be slightly positive on Netmarble and slightly negative on HYBE (mainly due to additional shares that could be sold in the market).
We are Negative on BOTH Netmarble and HYBE. Their valuations are not attractive. Plus, HYBE could face a major negative issue of its founder Bang Si-hyuk who could be jailed.

Div Tax Intel Drop: Street Pivoting to Forward Yield Plays (Consensus Data Excel Attached)

By Sanghyun Park

This is MoEF’s first gov-led tax reform—not lawmaker-initiated—and unlike April’s DP bill, it carries broader scope and priority fast-track status, boosting passage odds.
Local chatter says MoEF is eyeing end-July to table its tax reform bill — that’s the base case making the rounds on the tape today.
Gov may go full-scope: 9–25% div tax on all firms plus tax credits. Traders are now rotating into high forward-yield names ahead of MoEF’s late-July package.

Dong A St (170900 KS): Five Reasons Why Performance Improvement Is Expected

By Tina Banerjee

Dong A St (170900 KS) 1Q25 revenue rose 21% YoY, which is a significant improvement as the company recorded just 6% YoY growth in revenue in 2024.
Existing operation of Dong A St is showing strength. Stelara biosimilar to generate sales royalties from this year. Cenobamate launch is expected by next year.
Pipeline is promising, with upcoming data readouts expected through 2026. Obesity drug candidate has best-in-class potential.

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Jul 15

Daily Brief South Korea: Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T and more

By Smartkarma Daily Briefs | Daily Briefs, South Korea

In today’s briefing:

Samsung Daily Buyback Flow Compiled (Excel): Notable Flow/Price Sync Pattern Identified
Supreme Court’s Final Ruling on Samsung’s Lee Jae-Yong on 17 July: Impact on Samsung Group Companies

Samsung Daily Buyback Flow Compiled (Excel): Notable Flow/Price Sync Pattern Identified

By Sanghyun Park

Daily buyback flow data for Samsung (ord + pref) since last Nov compiled — Excel file attached below.
Started with ~1M/day (for ord), ramped up at 20–30%, then tapered post-60% — same playbook in both legs, with the second showing even more methodical, steady pacing.
Price action tracked buyback flow closely — especially in leg 2, where the mid-heavy-light volume pattern showed strong consistency.

Supreme Court’s Final Ruling on Samsung’s Lee Jae-Yong on 17 July: Impact on Samsung Group Companies

By Douglas Kim

The Supreme Court of Korea plans to make a final ruling on Samsung’s Lee Jae-Yong on 17 July.
If the Supreme Court confirms this appellate court’s ruling, then Lee Jae-Yong would finally be cleared of all charges related to the Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries merger.
The market is mostly expecting the confirmation of “not guilty” on all 19 charges on Lee Jae-Yong.

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Jul 14

Daily Brief South Korea: Shinyoung Securities and more

By Smartkarma Daily Briefs | Daily Briefs, South Korea

In today’s briefing:

Mandatory Cancellation of Existing Treasury Shares: A Historic Stock Market Event in the Making

Mandatory Cancellation of Existing Treasury Shares: A Historic Stock Market Event in the Making

By Sanghyun Park

The bill’s side notes clearly state that the mandatory cancellation rule applies retroactively to existing treasury shares without any exemptions.
If this passes the Assembly as-is, it’ll trigger a historic forced cancellation of treasury stock across ~1,660 companies—about three-quarters of the K-equities market.
Watch if this punchy bill clears committee and floor without cuts. Dems plan to fast-track it Sept 1, holding the majority to push it solo, aiming for year-end rollout.

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Jul 13

Daily Brief South Korea: Samsung Electronics, Meta Biomed and more

By Smartkarma Daily Briefs | Daily Briefs, South Korea

In today’s briefing:

Field-Checking Samsung HBM4 1c Yield Buzz & Samsung Life Law Play Inside Look
Korea Small Cap Gem #40: Meta Biomed (#1 Player Globally in Root Canal Filling Materials)

Field-Checking Samsung HBM4 1c Yield Buzz & Samsung Life Law Play Inside Look

By Sanghyun Park

Local intel says Samsung’s 1c-based 12-high HBM4 is basically locked in to sample to NVIDIA by end of this month or early next.
No hard proof Samsung hit 70% yield, but inside chatter’s bullish, internal mood’s upbeat, and that’s what’s driving the local market to chase the 1c HBM4 hype.
With the Samsung Life Law quietly sidelined in recent reform talks, Samsung seems to have read the room and is now going full throttle on the HBM push.

Korea Small Cap Gem #40: Meta Biomed (#1 Player Globally in Root Canal Filling Materials)

By Douglas Kim

Meta Biomed is the number one player in the world for root canal filling materials. It also produces other dental products, including bio-absorbable sutures and cosmetic medical products.
Six major reasons why we like Meta Biomed include number one player for root canal filling materials, solid sales growth, strong export growth, improving ROE and operating margins, and valuations.
We are introducing a new section (Major Factors of Business Operations and Valuations) for all our Korea Small Cap Gem Series from now on (see below).

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Jul 12

Daily Brief South Korea: EcoPro Materials, KG Mobility, Dowooinsys, Messe eSang, Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200 and more

By Smartkarma Daily Briefs | Daily Briefs, South Korea

In today’s briefing:

Basis for the 5 Trillion Won Moving Money Estimate for KOSPI Size Index Migration Event
[Quiddity Index Jul25] KOSPI 200 Leaderboard for Dec25 Rebal: 4 In/Out But Too Early to Bet
Dowoo Insys IPO Book Building Results Analysis
Korea Small Cap Gem #39: Messe ESANG
KOSPI 200 Tactical Outlook Amid Renewed Uncertainty from US Tariff Risks

Basis for the 5 Trillion Won Moving Money Estimate for KOSPI Size Index Migration Event

By Sanghyun Park

NPS allocates ~6% of its 76T won consignment book to mid/small-cap, with ~3.6T effectively benchmarked to the KOSPI Mid Cap Index via its hybrid BM.
Publicly raised funds add ~1.1T won across 358 products benchmarked to KOSPI Mid Cap, bringing total estimated exposure (incl. NPS) to ~4.7T won.
Including other pensions and off-radar private funds, total KOSPI Mid Cap exposure rounds out to ~5T won — the base case local street uses for passive impact modeling.

[Quiddity Index Jul25] KOSPI 200 Leaderboard for Dec25 Rebal: 4 In/Out But Too Early to Bet

By Travis Lundy

KOSPI 200 is a Korean blue-chip index that tracks the 200 largest and most-liquid names listed in the KOSPI section of the KRX. Here we look at Dec25 index rebal.
We expect up to 6 ADDs and 6 DELs in the KOSPI 200 index during the December 2025 index rebal event based on the latest available data.
This is up from 4 ADDs and 4 DELs last month, but there is a lot of potential sector threshold borderline volatility to change both the number and the names.

Dowoo Insys IPO Book Building Results Analysis

By Douglas Kim

Dowooinsys (484120 KS) announced that it has confirmed its IPO price at 32,000 won, which is at the high end of the IPO price range.
The demand ratio among the institutional investors was 785.4 to 1 with a total of 2,180 domestic and foreign institutions participating.
Our base case valuation of Dowoo Insys is target price of 40,667 won per share, which is 27% higher than the IPO price (32,000 won).

Korea Small Cap Gem #39: Messe ESANG

By Douglas Kim

We have found another gem in the Korean small cap industry. Messe ESANG is #39 in our Korea Small Cap Gem Series.
Messe ESANG (408920 KS) is the number one player in South Korea’s exhibition and convention industry.
The company has a combination of strong sales growth, excellent operating margins, improving ROE, sound balance sheet, and cheap valuations.

KOSPI 200 Tactical Outlook Amid Renewed Uncertainty from US Tariff Risks

By Nico Rosti

As reported by Gaudenz Schneider , South Korea left interest rates unchanged on July 11th, but significant uncertainty from US Tariffs policies pose a challenge for its economy.
In our previous KOSPI 200‘s insight we flagged an ‘overbought warning’, yet the index extended its rally for four more weeks, closing at 428 — near its all-time highs (449).
The index is now off the chart on our time model and approaching the upper limit of our SHORT price model. A WEEKLY pullback is imminent, but may be short-lived.

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Jul 11

Daily Brief South Korea: SK Square , Lg Innotek, HLB Life Science, S&SYS and more

By Smartkarma Daily Briefs | Daily Briefs, South Korea

In today’s briefing:

SK Square: Time to Take Profits + Why Are There Holdco Discounts in the First Place?
SK Square Placement: Clean up by Kakao
KOSPI Size Indices: Overlaps Between Active & Passive Flows
The HLB Merger Swap Turned into a Messier Trading Setup with Layered Dynamics in Play
S&SYS IPO Preview

SK Square: Time to Take Profits + Why Are There Holdco Discounts in the First Place?

By Douglas Kim

We are changing our View on SK Square (402340 KS) to Negative.
The major reason for this change is due to the surge in its share price along with lack of upside relative to its NAV.
Regarding SK Square, our holdco discount remains 40%. However, if there are real, positive continued efforts to improve corporate governance, this holdco discount could be reduced further.

SK Square Placement: Clean up by Kakao

By Nicholas Tan

Kakao Corp (035720 KS) is looking to raise US$316m from a clean-up sale in SK Square (402340 KS) .
The deal is a small one, representing 5.4 days of the stock’s three month ADV, and 1.7% of total shares outstanding.
In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.

KOSPI Size Indices: Overlaps Between Active & Passive Flows

By Brian Freitas

The review period for the September rebalance of the KOSPI Size Indices commenced on 1 June and will end on 31 August.
Nearing halfway in the review period, we forecast 53 migrating stocks. Among new listings, 1 stock could be added to LargeCap, 3 to MidCap and 1 to SmallCap.
Two potential downward migrations could be deleted from a global index in August. The new listing that is a potential LargeCap add could be added to a globalindex in September.

The HLB Merger Swap Turned into a Messier Trading Setup with Layered Dynamics in Play

By Sanghyun Park

Street’s wrongly assuming only 1% of total shares can exercise appraisal rights, but under Korean law, pre-meeting dissent suffices — today’s vote tells us nothing about actual buyback risk.
Focus is on pre-dissent size — local checks point to 20% of SO, 4x the 40B KRW cap. With stock 40% below appraisal price, merger break risk looks real.
Market’s treating deal break as bearish, deterring some from exercising appraisal despite being in the money. With spread this wide, swap leg offers high-risk, high-reward setup worth watching.

S&SYS IPO Preview

By Douglas Kim

S&SYS is getting ready to complete its IPO in KOSDAQ in August. S&SYS is a shipbuilding equipment integrated solution company.
The company plans to offer 1.9 million shares in this public offering. The IPO price range is from 27,000 won to 30,000 won.
To value S&SYS, the bankers used Sejin Heavy Industries Co Ltd (075580 KS), Halla IMS, HD Hyundai Marine Solution (443060 KS), and Ksp Co Ltd (073010 KS) as comps.

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Jul 10

Daily Brief South Korea: LOTTE Corporation, HYBE , Samsung Electronics and more

By Smartkarma Daily Briefs | Daily Briefs, South Korea

In today’s briefing:

Treasury Cancellation Bill Latest: 10% Holding Cap for Existing Ones — Targets Screened in Excel
A Pair Trade Between SM Entertainment (Long) Vs HYBE (Short)
Samsung 2Q25: It’s Even Worse than the Official Leak

Treasury Cancellation Bill Latest: 10% Holding Cap for Existing Ones — Targets Screened in Excel

By Sanghyun Park

Market focus is now on retroactive impact — existing treasury holdings above 10% must be canceled within a year, flipping earlier expectations that they’d be exempt.
DP’s fast-tracking the bill, targeting a September vote and mid-October go-live, with this Commercial Act tweak topping their legislative priority list.
Excel below shows 230 stocks above the 10% treasury cap, including 35 large-caps — prime candidates for momentum trades as the mandatory buyback burn bill gains steam.

A Pair Trade Between SM Entertainment (Long) Vs HYBE (Short)

By Douglas Kim

In this insight, we discuss a pair trade between SM Entertainment Co (041510 KS) (long) vs HYBE (352820 KS) (short).
There is an increasing probability that HYBE’s founder Bang Si-hyuk could face some jail time in which case there could be some vacuum of management leadership at HYBE.
Despite its recent outperformance, SM Entertainment’s valuation is much more attractive than HYBE (SM is trading at 9.6x EV/EBITDA vs 18.5x for HYBE in 2026).

Samsung 2Q25: It’s Even Worse than the Official Leak

By Nicolas Baratte

1st July the Korean media was “pre-announcing” 2Q25 operating profit to be “weaker than expected”, declining “by more than 15% from the first quarter” to KRW mid-5 trillion range.
Samsung official announcement is worse: operating profit KRW 4.6tn, down -56% YoY and -31% QoQ. This suggests a lower margins mix (less HBM, higher Foundry losses) and more Opex.
Last week, Consensus was expecting 2Q OP KRW 6.7tn, now down to 6.1tn. The reported 4.6tn is a nasty miss that implies that Consensus is way too high for 2H25.

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Jul 09

Daily Brief South Korea: Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electronics Pref Shares, Samsung C&T, Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200 and more

By Smartkarma Daily Briefs | Daily Briefs, South Korea

In today’s briefing:

Samsung Electronics: Share Buyback of 3.9 Trillion Won
Breaking Down the Moving Parts in Samsung’s Third-Leg Buyback Play
Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) Outlook After 3.9 Trillion Won Buyback Plan Announcement
Significance of The “3% Rule” In the Revision of the Commercial Act in Korea
KOSPI 200: Event-Driven Strategies into the July 10 BoK Decision

Samsung Electronics: Share Buyback of 3.9 Trillion Won

By Douglas Kim

Samsung Electronics announced today that it plans to conduct a large scale buyback worth 3.9 trillion won, of which 2.8 trillion won will be cancelled.
Samsung Electronics reported consolidated sales of 74 trillion won and operating profit of 4.6 trillion won in 2Q 2025, down 0.1% and 55.9% YoY, respectively.
The average daily trading volume (ADTV) of Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) (common shares) is 15.43 million. Therefore, the share buyback of 56.89 million (common shares) represents 3.7x of ADTV.

Breaking Down the Moving Parts in Samsung’s Third-Leg Buyback Play

By Sanghyun Park

If stock comp stays all in commons like last time, cancellation hits ~1.40% of SO in commons, 1.72% in prefs — setting up preferreds for relative outperformance.
If they cancel the full pool, Samsung Life + Fire’s stake hits 10.14%, forcing a ₩500B block — nearly 2x the ₩280B print back in Feb.
Again, odds are the overage hits the tape again — watch for a potential block print before the third leg wraps, like what played out in Feb.

Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) Outlook After 3.9 Trillion Won Buyback Plan Announcement

By Nico Rosti

Douglas Kim and Sanghyun Park have discussed Samsung Electronics (005930 KS)‘s 3.9 Trillion Won Share Buyback Plan announced on July 8th. Read the details in their insights.
Our latest insight maintained our BUY recommendation: the stock rallied during the following 2 weeks, reaching 64,700, then was marked as “very overbought” in our latest Global Tactical Weekly view.
The stock started to pull back last Friday, after reaching extremely overbought levels (64700). This insight presents a tactical view for Samsung Electronics direction, for the next 2-3 weeks.

Significance of The “3% Rule” In the Revision of the Commercial Act in Korea

By Douglas Kim

One of the most important changes in the revisions of the Commercial Act in Korea that was passed in the Parliament last week was the “3% rule.”
In this insight, we provide details of this 3% rule and how it is likely to significantly impact the Korean equity markets.
Major impact of the 3% rule is it is likely to shake up the BODs at many Korean companies. Many global activist investors will likely be more active in Korea.

KOSPI 200: Event-Driven Strategies into the July 10 BoK Decision

By Gaudenz Schneider

Context: The Bank of Korea will announce its rate decision on July 10, 2025. This Insight compares market and option-implied expectations with historical KOSPI 200 reactions.
Highlights: While average market reactions to BoK moves are historically muted, options are pricing in elevated volatility. Two event-driven strategies are discussed.
Why Read: This Insight offers actionable, volatility-focused options strategies grounded in empirical data and current pricing—timely for traders seeking to monetize elevated volatility ahead of central bank and geopolitical events.

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Jul 08

Daily Brief South Korea: Tongyang Life Insurance, LS Corp, Alteogen Inc, Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200 and more

By Smartkarma Daily Briefs | Daily Briefs, South Korea

In today’s briefing:

A Tender Offer of Remaining Shares & Delisting of Tongyang Life Insurance by Woori Financial?
KRX Virtually Locks In Parentco Payout Rules for Spin-Off IPOs
Alteogen: 2nd Largest Shareholder Raises Stake & Requests Switching Listing from KOSDAQ to KOSPI
Tariff Risk Returns: Market Signals and Asia’s Volatility Momentum

A Tender Offer of Remaining Shares & Delisting of Tongyang Life Insurance by Woori Financial?

By Douglas Kim

It has been reported that Woori Financial Group is considering on acquiring all of the remaining shares (21.2%) of Tongyang Life Insurance and delist it, making it a 100% subsidiary.
We believe that there is a high probability (70-80%+) that Woori Financial Group decides to acquire the remaining 21.2% stake in Tongyang Life Insurance held by minority shareholders.
Between cash and stock, we think that Woori Financial is likely to use cash to complete this deal, although the exact amount of market premium remains uncertain.

KRX Virtually Locks In Parentco Payout Rules for Spin-Off IPOs

By Sanghyun Park

KRX is set to spotlight Philenergy’s 2023 IPO as the model, pushing spin-off deals to reward parentco holders—like Philoptics’ move to hand out IPO shares.
Philoptics doubled pre-Philenergy IPO on crazy momentum, then round-tripped post-listing. Setups like this hint at bigger parentco moves ahead in future spin-off IPO plays.
SK Enmove IPO is scrapped; but SK Plasma (SK Discovery) still live; LS E-Link (LS Corp) also likely to be an early test case for the new parentco compensation framework.

Alteogen: 2nd Largest Shareholder Raises Stake & Requests Switching Listing from KOSDAQ to KOSPI

By Douglas Kim

On 7 July, it was reported that Hyung In-Woo (second largest shareholder of Alteogen) recently raised his ownership in the company by 0.22% stake (about 39 billion won) last month.
Mr. Hyung has requested to Alteogen to switch the company’s listing from KOSDAQ to KOSPI to improve the company’s image and attract greater capital inflow from passive funds.
Alteogen is currently trading at P/E of 37.7x in 2026 and 31.6x in 2027 which are reasonable, considering the company’s significant sales and profit growth in the next three years.

Tariff Risk Returns: Market Signals and Asia’s Volatility Momentum

By Gaudenz Schneider

Context: The 90-day pause on US reciprocal tariffs expires on July 9, 2025. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and India, now face a return to steep US tariffs.
Highlights: Markets reacted sharply to the original tariff announcement in April, with volatility peaking. While implied volatility eased in May, it has since climbed again, suggesting rising investor concern.
Why Read: As markets face renewed risk of stress, this Insight helps investors understand which markets and sectors are most exposed, how volatility is evolving, and how best to position.

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South Korea Archives | Page 15 of 126 | Smartkarma

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