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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: eWhartHog who wrote (3599)	5/15/1998 11:56:00 PM
From: Stitch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

AWharthog, To those of you S. Korean equity afficianados there is this from todays WSJ. The following is reprinted here for personal use only. South Korea to Completely Scrap Limit on Foreign Stock Ownership Dow Jones Newswires SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's Ministry of Finance and Economy said Friday it will completely scrap the 55% limit on foreigners' stock investments May 22, as part of the government's agreement with the International Monetary Fund as well as to draw much-needed foreign capital into the beleaguered stock market. Overseas investors will also be allowed to own up to 30% of Korea Electric Power Corp. and Pohang Iron and Steel Co. shares from the current 25% ceiling. The ministry said it wants to keep the two state-run companies from full foreign ownership as both the power-generation and steel industries are essential to the economy. The government has a long-term plan to privatize the two state-run companies, but wants to give foreigners more stakes in the companies in small increments, citing the importance of keeping the electricity and steel companies under government control as matter of national security. South and North Korea are still technically at war since no peace agreement was signed after the 1950-53 Korean war. The finance ministry and other government offices had announced earlier this month their intention to abolish the limit on foreigners' equities ownership ahead of schedule. In February, South Korea and IMF agreed to eliminate the aggregate ceiling on foreign investments in Korean stocks by end 1998. Ministry officials said it was expediting the timetable as part of its efforts to stimulate the sagging local stock market, which has been battered by high interest rates and concern over chain bankruptcies. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index has been trading near an 11-year low in recent days as a new wave of bankruptcies has emerged this week. On Friday, the index fell 10.11, or 2.8%, to 352.83.