Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Douglas Research Advisory

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>One of the big thematic events on the Korean stock market has been the expectation that China could lift ban on Korean popular culture (Hallyu) as early as May 2025. </li>
<li>China's President Xi recently stated <em>"Cultural exchanges are a valuable part of our bilateral relations [between China and Korea]. We should avoid any problems occurring in handling such matters.” </em>
</li>
<li>We provide a list of 40 stocks in Korea that could most benefit from the end of lifting ban of Korean popular culture. </li>
</ul>


One of the big thematic events on the Korean stock market has been the expectation that China could lift ban on Korean popular culture (Hallyu) as early as May 2025. 
China's President Xi recently stated "Cultural exchanges are a valuable part of our bilateral relations [between China and Korea]. We should avoid any problems occurring in handling such matters.” 

We provide a list of 40 stocks in Korea that could most benefit from the end of lifting ban of Korean popular culture. 


China Could Lift Ban on Korean Popular Culture (Hallyu) As Early As May 2025

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Periscope Analytics

Periscope Analytics focuses on event-driven trades across Asia Pacific and provides comprehensive, timely and systematic coverage of index changes to major Asia Pacific indices in a structured manner.

The analysis includes forecasted inclusions and exclusions to all major Asian indices that have significant amount of tracking assets, including estimates of passive buy/sell flow on the stocks. The service also provides commentary and impact of market consultations, ground rule changes, and other events (IPOs, spin-offs, M&A) that could lead to index changes and passive flow.

Periscope Analytics works with multi-strategy hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, stat arb trading groups and long-only investors that invest and trade in the Asia Pacific region with the data being used to trade index rebalances, avoid pre-positioning and passive flow, and to time entry into and exit from stocks.

Event-Driven Trades Across Asia Pacific

Event-Driven

Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200 / Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>Since short selling was banned in November 2023, short interest has plunged in Korea as shorts were covered. Markets have not done much over the last 16 months though. </li>
<li>Foreign investor holdings have dropped from 32.05% in July to 28.57%. The top 25 stocks bought by foreign investors outperformed the top 25 stocks sold by 128% in 16 months.</li>
<li>There will be trade opportunities across indices, pref/ords, index migrations and deletions, potential market upgrades and overvalued stocks being sold.</li>
</ul>


Since short selling was banned in November 2023, short interest has plunged in Korea as shorts were covered. Markets have not done much over the last 16 months though. 
Foreign investor holdings have dropped from 32.05% in July to 28.57%. The top 25 stocks bought by foreign investors outperformed the top 25 stocks sold by 128% in 16 months.
There will be trade opportunities across indices, pref/ords, index migrations and deletions, potential market upgrades and overvalued stocks being sold.


Korea: Short Selling Is Back in March; Trade Ideas

Head of ESG Intelligence, Who's Good

Soo Young Kim

Head of ESG Intelligence

ASIA’S FIRST AI-DRIVEN ESG INSIGHT PROVIDER

Who's Good

Using AI technologies and public data, Who’s Good provides objective and up-to-date corporate ESG insights on Asian companies.

WHY WHO'S GOOD

* Time-sensitive: Time is the essence in finance. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can process vast amount of information in a short span of time. Our powerful algorithm offers real-time in-depth corporate ESG analysis with out compromising its quality.
* Objective: We turned to public big data and news big data as source to base our analysis on and to preserve impartiality. We leverage 350 public big data sources and 93 news data sources in Korea to uncover insights.
* Insightful: Who’s Good ESG analysis coverage extends to all listed and non-listed companies in Korea. This allows us to provide a comprehensive insight into the Korean market.
* Global approach to ESG: Our ESG research framework is built on international standards and principles including UN Global Compact, ISO 26000, ICGN and CFA Guidelines on Corporate Governance to meet the global standards.

<ul>
<li>JYP Entertainment (035900), one of the major entertainment companies in Korea, just released its very first ESG report in the industry</li>
<li>As climate change issues grow among fandom, likely to see growing risk for environmental issues. For social issues, anti-competitive practices and consumer issues became material</li>
<li>'Business Ethics' issues at YG Entertainment (122870) has pulled down its stock price in 2019, causing its main artist to disband</li>
</ul>


JYP Entertainment (035900), one of the major entertainment companies in Korea, just released its very first ESG report in the industry
As climate change issues grow among fandom, likely to see growing risk for environmental issues. For social issues, anti-competitive practices and consumer issues became material
'Business Ethics' issues at YG Entertainment (122870) has pulled down its stock price in 2019, causing its main artist to disband


K-Pop Industry Finally Starts to Pay Attention to ESG

<ul>
<li>In this insight, we provided the most recent ranking of the top 100 most popular YouTube channels in Korea (according to Socialblade website).</li>
<li>The top 100 YouTube channels in Korea have received 390.7 billion in total views as of June 2023. Of these total views, K-Pop channels views accounted for 46.4% share.</li>
<li>YouTube has been meaningfully taking away market share from Kakao and Naver in the past three years. KakaoTalk's MAU was 41.5 million in May 2023. YouTube was a close second.</li>
</ul>


In this insight, we provided the most recent ranking of the top 100 most popular YouTube channels in Korea (according to Socialblade website).
The top 100 YouTube channels in Korea have received 390.7 billion in total views as of June 2023. Of these total views, K-Pop channels views accounted for 46.4% share.
YouTube has been meaningfully taking away market share from Kakao and Naver in the past three years. KakaoTalk's MAU was 41.5 million in May 2023. YouTube was a close second.


Analysis of Top 100 Korean YouTube Channels + Significant Market Share Gains for YouTube in Korea

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech, Aequitas Research

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Quantitative Analysis

<ul>
<li>We analyzed the changes in foreign holdings of KRX stocks as of Mar 21st which has an aggregated holding worth USD500.4bn.</li>
<li>We estimate that foreign flows to be inflows of USD1,889mln. We tabulate the league table for top changes by value for 1W/4W/1Y and top stocks held by foreign institutions.</li>
<li>We highlight changes of foreign holdings in Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Hanwha Aerospace.</li>
</ul>


We analyzed the changes in foreign holdings of KRX stocks as of Mar 21st which has an aggregated holding worth USD500.4bn.
We estimate that foreign flows to be inflows of USD1,889mln. We tabulate the league table for top changes by value for 1W/4W/1Y and top stocks held by foreign institutions.
We highlight changes of foreign holdings in Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Hanwha Aerospace.


KRX Foreign Holding Weekly (Mar 21st): Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Hanwha Aerospace

South Korea

JYP Entertainment Corp plans, produces, promotes, and markets Korean singers both in Korean and overseas market. The Company's also engages in licensing, merchandizing, and artist management business including the commercial flim contracts of the artists.

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Jyp Entertainment (035900 KS)

China Could Lift Ban on Korean Popular Culture (Hallyu) As Early As May 2025

One of the big thematic events that have impacted the Korean stock market this week has been the expectation that China could lift ban on Korean...

Douglas Kim

Korea: Short Selling Is Back in March; Trade Ideas

Short selling in Korea commences from Monday. There will be a lot of interest in shorting stocks/sectors depending on how they have performed since...

Brian Freitas

K-Pop Industry Finally Starts to Pay Attention to ESG

This insight explains how K-pop industry behaves from the ESG perspective and defines the types of ESG issues in the industry, based on news text...

Soo Young Kim

KRX Foreign Holding Weekly (Mar 21st): Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Hanwha Aerospace

We analyzed KRX foreign holding data for the past week and highlighted foreign holding changes in Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Hanwha Aerospace.

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

China Could Lift Ban on Korean Popular Culture (Hallyu) As Early As May 2025

One of the big thematic events that have impacted the Korean stock market this week has been the expectation that China could lift ban on Korean...

Douglas Kim

Korea: Short Selling Is Back in March; Trade Ideas

Short selling in Korea commences from Monday. There will be a lot of interest in shorting stocks/sectors depending on how they have performed since...

Brian Freitas

K-Pop Industry Finally Starts to Pay Attention to ESG

This insight explains how K-pop industry behaves from the ESG perspective and defines the types of ESG issues in the industry, based on news text...

Soo Young Kim

Analysis of Top 100 Korean YouTube Channels + Significant Market Share Gains for YouTube in Korea

In this insight, we analyze the most recent ranking of the top 100 most popular YouTube channels in Korea (according to Socialblade website).

Douglas Kim

KRX Foreign Holding Weekly (Mar 21st): Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Hanwha Aerospace

We analyzed KRX foreign holding data for the past week and highlighted foreign holding changes in Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Hanwha Aerospace.

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM