Investment Week (September 6)
Japan was “historically seen as a ‘value trap’” where “the interests of minority shareholders were ‘subordinate to those of other stakeholders’” as summed up by one portfolio manager. But things have changed. “After a decade of reforms, ‘Abenomics’ and a push towards fairer corporate governance, investors have started to feel the Japanese market is turning a corner.”
Tags: Abenomics, Corporate governance, Interests, Investors, Japan, Market, Minority shareholders, Portfolio manager, Reforms, Stakeholders, Subordinate, Value trap
Pensions & Investments (March 22)
“For decades, South Korea’s most powerful tycoons ran their companies with little regard for minority shareholders. Then came Paul Singer. The hedge fund titan’s activist campaigns…have trained a spotlight on the corporate governance failures and complex ownership structures that saddle South Korean stocks with some of the world’s lowest valuations.” His defeat at Hyundai Motor “is unlikely to derail the nascent shift toward more accountability at the business groups that dominate Asia’s fourth-largest economy.”
Tags: Accountability, Activist, Corporate governance, Hedge-fund, Hyundai Motor, Minority shareholders, Paul Singer, South Korea, Valuations
Wall Street Journal (July 20)
“The Lee family that controls the Samsung conglomerate won its showdown with minority shareholders on Friday, but the vote still represents a watershed for corporate governance in the world’s 14th-largest economy. Though Samsung won, the bell is tolling for South Korea’s chaebol system of corporate control.” The shareholder fight marked “a step forward for corporate reform in Asia” where “a new shareholder class has been mobilized.”
Tags: Asia, Chaebol, Conglomerate, Corporate governance, Lee, Minority shareholders, Samsung, South Korea, Watershed
