Korea / Special Sits, Pairs, Index Rebalancing, Clepsydra Capital

Sanghyun Park

Korea / Special Sits, Pairs, Index Rebalancing

Clepsydra Capital

Investigate special situations, pairs, and index rebalancing trades in Korea.

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>KT's foreign room has been exhausted due to value-up trading inflows, NPS selling shares, and KT canceling treasury stocks.</li>
<li>Hyundai Motor may sell 0.5% of its KT stake, likely to overseas investors. KT's 700,000 share cancellation will lower foreign ownership to the low-4% range, possibly below 3.75% by November.</li>
<li>Focus on the stock price surge from ETF recall requests around the effective date, and note that passive outflow corrections typically occur afterward.</li>
</ul>


KT's foreign room has been exhausted due to value-up trading inflows, NPS selling shares, and KT canceling treasury stocks.
Hyundai Motor may sell 0.5% of its KT stake, likely to overseas investors. KT's 700,000 share cancellation will lower foreign ownership to the low-4% range, possibly below 3.75% by November.
Focus on the stock price surge from ETF recall requests around the effective date, and note that passive outflow corrections typically occur afterward.


Reasons Why KT's Foreign Room Is Likely to Fall Below the 3.75% Cutoff Level

Korea Stock Exchange Kospi Index / Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>Martial law has been declared 11 times since 1945, but this is the first since Korea’s post-‘90 democratization.</li>
<li>The Martial Law Command's first proclamation blocks parliament, raising legal questions about its constitutionality and making any immediate attempt to end martial law uncertain.</li>
<li>Defense and telecom stocks could outperform short-term due to martial law, making them strong trading targets to watch.</li>
</ul>


Martial law has been declared 11 times since 1945, but this is the first since Korea’s post-‘90 democratization.
The Martial Law Command's first proclamation blocks parliament, raising legal questions about its constitutionality and making any immediate attempt to end martial law uncertain.
Defense and telecom stocks could outperform short-term due to martial law, making them strong trading targets to watch.


Breaking: Korea Drops Martial Law, Local Markets in Turmoil—What’s the Short-Term Trade Play Here?

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Douglas Research Advisory

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>There are some major surprises (both inclusions and exclusions) in the Korea Value Up index. </li>
<li>In particular, the telecom sector (SK Telecom and KT) and large cap holding companies (Samsung C&amp;T and LG Corp) are surprising exclusions in the index.</li>
<li>There are many surprising inclusions in the Korea Value Up Index. We provide 30 companies are surprising inclusions in the Korea Value Up Index (19 KOSDAQ and 11 KOSPI listed).</li>
</ul>


There are some major surprises (both inclusions and exclusions) in the Korea Value Up index. 
In particular, the telecom sector (SK Telecom and KT) and large cap holding companies (Samsung C&amp;T and LG Corp) are surprising exclusions in the index.
There are many surprising inclusions in the Korea Value Up Index. We provide 30 companies are surprising inclusions in the Korea Value Up Index (19 KOSDAQ and 11 KOSPI listed).


Korea Value Up Index - Surprising Inclusions and Exclusions

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>SK Telecom experienced the biggest cyberattack in its history in April which is likely to result in a major shakeup of its management team. </li>
<li>We estimate SK Telecom could lose 1 million+ mobile service customers. Given its ARPU of 29,355 won per month, this would represent lost annual revenue of nearly 352 billion won. </li>
<li>This massive cyberattack could cost SK Telecom more than 1 trillion won in a combination of lost revenue and additional commission/advertising necessary to attract new customers. </li>
</ul>


SK Telecom experienced the biggest cyberattack in its history in April which is likely to result in a major shakeup of its management team. 
We estimate SK Telecom could lose 1 million+ mobile service customers. Given its ARPU of 29,355 won per month, this would represent lost annual revenue of nearly 352 billion won. 
This massive cyberattack could cost SK Telecom more than 1 trillion won in a combination of lost revenue and additional commission/advertising necessary to attract new customers. 


Biggest Cyberattack in SK Telecom's History - Likely to Lead to Major Management Changes

Index Rebalance

<ul>
<li>June rebalance drops mid-May, goes live post-KOSPI 200 expiry. Back to 100 names—net outflow setup with more deletes than adds. ETFs rebalance into June 12 close.</li>
<li>KRX confirmed 10 special entries for June; results likely out in May with Value-Up rebalance. 12 protected names stay. Stocks over 10% weight, like Samsung and SK Hynix, remain.</li>
<li>Value-Up disclosure isn’t mandatory yet—rule starts June 2026. But compliant firms get a screening boost. Around 76 spots remain, filled via quant screen after excluding 24 protected names.</li>
</ul>


June rebalance drops mid-May, goes live post-KOSPI 200 expiry. Back to 100 names—net outflow setup with more deletes than adds. ETFs rebalance into June 12 close.
KRX confirmed 10 special entries for June; results likely out in May with Value-Up rebalance. 12 protected names stay. Stocks over 10% weight, like Samsung and SK Hynix, remain.
Value-Up disclosure isn’t mandatory yet—rule starts June 2026. But compliant firms get a screening boost. Around 76 spots remain, filled via quant screen after excluding 24 protected names.


June Value-Up Rebalance: Hype Fading, But Key Flags Remain

South Korea

KT Corporation provides telecommunication services including local, long distance, and international calling, satellite communication, data transmission, and wireless telephone services in South Korea.  The Company also offers network portal and high-speed Internet access services using asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSLs).

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KT Corp (030200 KS)

Reasons Why KT's Foreign Room Is Likely to Fall Below the 3.75% Cutoff Level

This post examines the reasons why KT's foreign room is likely to fall below the 3.75% cutoff level before the November review.

Sanghyun Park

Breaking: Korea Drops Martial Law, Local Markets in Turmoil—What’s the Short-Term Trade Play Here?

Breaking news: Korea has declared martial law, causing local markets to be in turmoil—what’s the short-term trading strategy moving forward?

Sanghyun Park

Korea Value Up Index - Surprising Inclusions and Exclusions

There are many surprising inclusions and exclusions in the Korea Value Up Index. We provide 30 companies that are surprising inclusions and 10...

Douglas Kim

Biggest Cyberattack in SK Telecom's History - Likely to Lead to Major Management Changes

SK Telecom experienced the biggest cyberattack in its history in April which could cost SK Telecom more than 1 trillion won in a combination of...

Douglas Kim

June Value-Up Rebalance: Hype Fading, But Key Flags Remain

This post gives a quick pulse check on the June Value-up Index rebalance—hype’s cooling off, but there are still a few key things to flag.

Sanghyun Park

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