Dominant Players
Listed units of South Korea's top 10 pan-family business groups, such as pan-Samsung family group and pan-Hyundai, were found to make up more than half of the nation‘s total stock market capitalization. In particular, the listed firms of pan-Samsung family group including CJ, Shinsegae and Hansol accounted for about a fourth of the total market capitalization.
According to the data by corporate tracker CEO Score, the market capitalization of 181 listed subsidiaries of the 10 largest pan family business groups, known as chaebol here, recorded 778.52 trillion won (US$696.35 billion) as of the end of July, with 416 members of chaebol families owning 70.15 trillion won (US$62.74 billion).
Although the number of the listed companies came to a mere 8.8 percent of all 2,064 companies traded on the stock market, they accounted for 51.2 percent of the value of all shares traded on the main bourse worth 1,498.57 trillion won (US$1.34 trillion). The owner families, who are also the major shareholders, owned 4.7 percent of the total market capitalization.
For the data, top 10 pan family groups included according to the selection standards of the Fair Trade Commission (FTC). Also, the listed companies not only included the subsidiaries but also the pan-group affiliates.
By groups, 42 listed companies under pan-Samsung umbrella, including Samsung, CJ, Hansol and Shinsegae, topped the market value ranking with 380.89 trillion won (US$340.69 billion), accounting for 25.4 percent of the total market capitalization and 48.9 percent of the worth of the top 10 conglomerates.
Pan-Hyundai stood at the second with 40 listed companies, such as KCC, Korea Flange, Hanra, Hyundai, Hyundai Department Store, Hyundai Development, Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance and Foosung, with their market value reaching 140.17 trillion won (US$125.38 billion), making up 9.4 percent of the total and 18 percent of the worth of the top 10 conglomerates.
Pan-LG, which has 25 listed companies including LB, LF, LG, LIG, LS, Redcap Tour, EXA E&C and Cuckoo Electronics, took the third spot with the market value of 86.25 trillion won (US$77.14 billion), taking up 5.8 percent of the total stock market and 11.1 percent of the combined market capitalization of the top 10 conglomerates.
Pan-SK, which has 16 listed firms, came in fourth with the market value of 80.7 trillion won (US$72.18 billion), pan-Lotte, which has listed subsidiaries like LT, Nongshim and Lotte, in fifth with 28.24 trillion won (US$25.26 billion) and pan-Hanwha, which has Binggrae and Hanwha, in sixth with 16.61 trillion won (US$14.85 billion).
The rest included pan-Hyosung with Hyosung and Hankook Tire, which has the market value of 14.87 trillion won (US$13.3 billion), pan-GS with GS, Seronics and Cosmo, which posts 12.44 trillion won (US$11.13 billion) in the market capitalization, pan-Hanjin with Hanjin, Meritz and Eusu, which has the value of 10.47 trillion won (US$9.36 billion) and pan-Doosan with Doosan, which posts 7.9 trillion won (US$7.07 billion) in the market value.
By individual groups, Samsung Group took the largest share in the market. The group’s 15 listed firms accounted for 23.2 percent of the total market capitalization with 347.28 trillion won (US$310.62 billion), making up 44.6 percent of the worth of the top 10 conglomerates.
Hyundai Motor Group, which has 15 listed firms, took second place with the market capitalization of 100.84 trillion won (US$90.2 billion). SK Group stood at the third with 80.7 trillion won (US$72.18 billion), followed by LG Group with 77.26 trillion won (US$69.11 billion), Lotte Group with 24.86 trillion won (US$22.24 billion) and Hanwha Group with 15.99 trillion won (US$14.3 billion).
By major shareholders’ families, Samsung still topped the ranking with 26 members owning 29.88 trillion won (US$26.73 billion) of the market value of 24 listed companies. This accounts for 2 percent of Korea’s total market capitalization. Hyundai followed the next with 70 major shareholders owning 13.6 trillion won (US$12.17 billion) of 32 listed companies’ value, accounting for 0.9 percent of the total market capitalization.
LG came in third with 128 members owning 7.62 trillion won (US$6.82 billion) of the market value of its listed firms, SK in fourth with 5 trillion won (US$4.47 billion), Hyosung in fifth with 4.45 trillion won (US$3.98 billion) and Lotte in sixth with 2.98 trillion won (US$2.67 billion).