Korea’s Hancom Lifecare tops mid-cap list with the largest institutional holding

[Courtesy of Hancom Lifecare]

Hancom Lifecare Inc., a manufacturer of personal safety equipment such as gas masks and body armor under South Korea’s Hancom Group, is the country’s top mid-size stock with the largest share holdings by institutional investors.

According to an analysis conducted by corporate data tracker CEO Score on Wednesday on the shareholding status of the largest shareholders of 722 listed mid-size companies as of the end of May, 182 companies, or 18.3 percent, had institutional investors from home and abroad own five percent or more in their shares.

Hancom Lifecare had the largest institutional investor holding with 33.9 percent. STIC Investments owned 22.6 percent and Partner One Investment 11.3 percent.

Following Hancom Lifecare, the most heavily held mid-cap companies by institutional investors were NICE D&B (26.6 percent), CreaS F&C (25.7 percent), Koh Young (23.9 percent), Wonik Materials (23.0 percent), Geumhwa PSC (21.5 percent), T’way Air (21.4 percent), Whan In Pharm (21.0 percent), and Hy-Lok Korea (20.3 percent).

Listed mid-cap companies with a high percentage of shares held by Korea’s largest institutional investor, the National Pension Service (NPS), include Korea Electric Terminal (11.8 percent), Samyang Foods (11.4 percent), Interojo (11.3 percent), Dentium (10.0 percent), Hanall Biopharma (9.6 percent), YG Entertainment (9.3 percent), and Daewoong Pharm (9.2 percent).

The mid-sized company with the highest percentage of shares held by Korean conglomerates was YTN with 32.7 percent. Korea Ginseng Corporation and Mirae Asset Life Insurance held 20.0 percent and 12.8 percent of the TV network, respectively.

YTN is currently in the process of being privatized as its two largest shareholders, KEPCO KDN (21.4 percent) and Korea Racing Authority (9.5 percent), have decided to sell their stakes.

Car-ride sharing platform SOCAR is held by SK Inc. and Lotte Rental with 17.9 percent and 11.8 percent respectively. E-commerce company CAFE24 has a 14.8 percent stake held by Naver.

The listed companies where Samsung Electronics holds stakes as a strategic investor are A-Tech Solution (15.9 percent), YIKC (11.7 percent), LOT Vacuum (7.1 percent), FST (7 percent), and Wonik IPS (3.77 percent each held by Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display).

All of them are in the semiconductor-related materials, components, and equipment businesses.

Among institutional investors, the NPS has invested more than 5 percent in 53 listed mid-cap companies. The NPS is followed by Fidelity with 20 companies, Korea Securities Finance with 16, VIP Asset Management with six, and Shinyoung Asset Management with five.