Jeong Eun-bo, chairperson of the Korea Exchange, said, “I hope the value-up program spreads positive changes across the capital market and serves as an opportunity for a leap into the Korea premium.” He noted that continuous interest in enhancing corporate value is necessary.
The Korea Exchange held a “Value-Up Program Implementation 1st Anniversary Celebration” in its Seoul office on the afternoon of the 27th, unveiling the progress and major achievements of the value-up program, and exploring future development directions. The corporate value-up program is a project led by the government to revitalize the domestic stock market last year. More than 200 stakeholders, including pension funds, asset management companies, and listed corporations, attended the event.
On that day, the exchange awarded 10 outstanding corporations that contributed to the enhancement of corporate value and the spread of the value-up culture among the 125 companies that disclosed their value-up plans by March this year. The winners included ▲HD Hyundai Electric ▲KB Financial ▲Meriz Financial Group ▲Samyang Foods ▲KT&G ▲Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance ▲Shinhan Financial Group ▲Hyundai GLOVIS ▲KT ▲SK hynix.
Chairperson Jeong stated in his opening remarks, “The value-up program was initiated to alleviate information asymmetry in our capital market, address the Korea discount, and enhance investor confidence,” and added, “We provided guidelines to help corporations establish and disclose voluntary corporate value enhancement plans, and we implemented the value-up index and exchange-traded products (ETP) launches without delay to ensure that corporate efforts can be linked to investment.”
According to the exchange, the average price-earnings ratio of companies participating in the value-up disclosure last year was 4.5%, which is 21.5 percentage points higher than that of non-disclosed companies, indicating a favorable stock price trend. So far, 153 listed companies have participated in the value-up disclosure, and it has been reported that half (49.4%) of the companies by KOSPI market capitalization have implemented the disclosure.
Chairperson Jeong said, “The exchange will continue to support improvements to the physiology of our capital market and help instill a culture of 'respecting shareholder value' in partnership with the government and relevant institutions.”
On the same day, Kim Byeong-hwan, the Financial Services Commissioner, also attended the event and highlighted the necessity of promoting the value-up program as a major policy even in the next government. He stated, “(Revitalizing the Korean stock market) is an issue that has formed a national consensus, and various policies are being proposed during the current presidential election process,” and added, “I believe it will be promoted as a significant policy agenda in the next government.”
He emphasized, “The stock price returns of companies participating in the value-up disclosure are showing higher levels compared to non-disclosed companies, and shareholder returns have also noticeably increased,” and noted that “the value-up program is a significant turning point in capital market policies that lead listed corporations to take initiative in driving change and that the system supports this.”
Commissioner Kim stated that it is necessary to improve the incentive system for companies participating in the value-up program and for companies themselves to internalize the need and value of the value-up.
He said, “I will continue to hold discussions and support at the National Assembly level, so that the advanced capital market policies, including the value-up program, can transform from short-term stock price support measures into management culture as corporate and investor perceptions change.”