by Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe | April 4, 2014 1:10 pm
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Source URL: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/2014/04/david-hurwitz-opportunities-for-activism-in-korea/
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“He,” (David Hurwitz, presumably ?) “started a separate hedge fund just ..for .Korea.”
Name of hedge fund?
Don’t know. SC Fundamental’s website is here, he was not intersted in talking about the details from the stage. He appears to be partners with Petra Capital in this new fund.
problem with Korea is that it competes with Japan where the yen is being driven down under the govt’s official policy.
So you don’t want to own something the Japanese can undercut on price. We own the ADR on the NYSE of a Korean bank, about as easy as joining The Sage of Omaha in PKX. Posco, a steel-maker which cannot compete with Japan on price (Warren Buffett has lost money with this one.) He also lost on BYD theChinese carmaker. He is not that good on Asia as he doesn’t know how to read the languages only the balance sheets.
We also own a discounted Korean Fund (closed end Korea Fund.)
As for corporate governance, don’t be ridiculous. The country is run by chaebols which are similar to Japanese Zaibatsu, owning multi-tiered stakes which let a ruling family or group run a firm with only a minority of shares. There is an activist movement to improve the lot of retail investors which wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t a problem. I interviewed them first in Seoul about 1992 and they still are agitating and getting nowhere.