Market Capitalization
The market capitalization of Samsung Group affiliates increased nearly 50 trillion won (US$44.72 billion) this year alone, boosted by a stock rally in Samsung Electronics Co.
According to the Korea Exchange on March 20, the combined market capitalization of 23 Samsung affiliates, including preferred stocks, stood at 442.47 trillion won (US$395.77 billion) as of the 14th, up 12.1 percent, or 47.68 trillion won (US$42.65 billion), from 394.79 trillion won (US$353.12 billion) at the end of last year.
With the increase, the group’s portion grew by 1.9 percent point to 28 percent in the total value of the KOSPI and the secondary, tech-laden KOSDAQ markets worth 1579.25 trillion won (US$1.41 trillion), compared with 26.1 percent at the end of 2016.
Among the 10 biggest business groups in terms of total assets, Samsung had the highest increase in market cap compared to the end of last year, followed by SK with 6.3 trillion won (US$5.63 billion) and LG with 5.13 trillion won (US$4.59 billion).
However, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. had the highest rate of market cap increase with 14.1 percent, surpassing Samsung Group. The market cap of Hyundai Heavy increased 1.74 trillion won (US$1.56 billion) from 12.4 trillion won (US$11.09 billion) at the end of last year.
On the other hand, the market cap of Hyundai Motor, Hanwha and Lotte fell by 1.2 percent, 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
Among securities under top 10 business groups, the preferred stocks of SK Securities showed the highest rise at 84.7 percent during the same period, followed by Hotel Shilla with 71.2 percent and LG Innotek with 43.7 percent.
The 10 largest business conglomerates accounted for 52.2 percent of the KOSPI and the KOSDAQ markets, up 1.7 percent point from the end of last year. The combined market value of the 10 biggest business groups climbed 8.1 percent compared to the end of last year.