South Korea’s activist investors are set to routinize campaigns throughout the year rather than launching fresh moves around annual general meetings, investment banking industry sources said on Thursday.
Many domestic activist funds plan this year to sustain the existing campaigns launched in 2024, while some activist investors decided to slow down taking new actions, the sources said.
“Last year, many had thought it would be difficult to talk to companies without surprise actions at regular shareholders’ meetings,” said a local activist fund source. “However, the government’s value-up program justified shareholder activism and allowed us to easily communicate with companies even though we did not take actions at those meetings.”
Local activist investors had usually launched campaigns for higher shareholder value, better corporate governance and other purposes around general shareholder meetings.
Seoul-based Anda Asset Management Co. joined hands with global peers such as City of London Investment Management Co. and US-based Whitebox Advisors LLC to wage a proxy battle with Samsung C&T Corp. in February 2024, about a month before an annual shareholder meeting of the de facto holding company of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group.
Tcha Partners Asset Management Co. launched a proxy fight against Kumho Petrochemical Co., while Align Partners Capital Management Inc. initiated such a battle against JB Financial Group Co. before their annual general meetings.
TO STEP UP EXISTING CAMPAIGNS
Domestic activist investors aim to step up the existing campaigns by maintaining their actions against targeted companies throughout the year, sources said.
“In the past, we just had to defend from activist investors only for three months before general shareholder meetings,” said a source at a listed company. “We stay alert throughout a year now as many activist funds take offensive actions all year round.”
More activist funds avoid campaigns during the annual general meeting period to raise investor attention, sources said.
Activist investors’ demand during the period in March may fail to draw interest as other shareholders usually request companies to take steps for higher shareholder returns, better governance and others, they added.
Last October, Align Partners called on Doosan Bobcat Inc., a global construction machinery maker owned by Doosan Group, to implement measures to boost its shareholder value.
By Ji-Eun Ha
hazzys@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this aricle.
