PEF Shareholding Data Released by Leaders Index

Corporate tracker Leaders Index announced on Sept. 12 that BlackRock is the foreign PEF with the largest shareholding in the top 500 South Korean enterprises in terms of sales.

According to the announcement, the 500 enterprises include 73 with a PEF shareholding of at least 5 percent and the 73 consist of 53 with a foreign PEF shareholding of at least 5 percent and 20 with a domestic PEF shareholding of at least 5 percent. As of Sept. 6, foreign PEFs’ equity value in listed companies is slightly over 38 trillion won and that of domestic PEFs is 4.3554 trillion won.

BlackRock PEFs currently own 5.03 percent of Samsung Electronics, 5.24 percent of Samsung SDI, 5.09 percent of Hotel Shilla, 5.02 percent of POSCO Holdings, 5.05 percent of Naver, 5.67 percent of Shinhan Financial Group, 6.02 percent of KB Financial Group and 6.19 percent of Hana Financial Group. The PEFs’ equity value in the eight enterprises is 25.2773 trillion won.

Tencent currently owns 17.52 percent of Netmarble, 13.53 percent of Krafton and 5.96 percent of Kakao. Its equity value in the three enterprises is 4.3074 trillion won. In addition, Affinity Equity Partners owns 25 percent of Hyundai Commercial and 24 percent of Kyobo Life Insurance and Morgan Stanley owns 24.8 percent of Hyundai Rotem.

“Unlike foreign PEFs, South Korean PEFs are under various regulations based on the Indirect Investment Asset Management Business Act,” Leaders Index pointed out, adding, “Foreign PEFs’ various profit maximization attempts are leading to disputes over management rights as seen in the case of the Kyobo Life-Affinity consortium.”