Impeachment isn’t alarming investors from abroad

Some overseas investors remain bullish on Korean stocks and are sticking to their investment strategy in the wake of Friday’s impeachment vote.

Gary Greenberg, whose Hermes Global Emerging Markets Fund is beating 96 percent of peers with a one-year return of 31 percent, said there’s “no change” to his Korea stock strategy. “From an investor point of view, Korea is a pretty stable economy,” Greenberg said. “Reform of chaebols is pretty good, and if this resulted in better governance, that would be good for Korea.” Greenberg holds KB Financial Group, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and Samsung Electronics.

Ben Surtees, a fund manager whose Jupiter Far Eastern Fund has posted a 21 percent return year-to-date, expects a new opposition-led government to target improvements in the country’s conglomerates. “If the opposition party takes office, it will push chaebols for better management policy and more friendly policy for minority shareholders.” He holds Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Coway and NCSoft.

Ewan Markson-Brown of Edinburgh-based Baillie Gifford also didn’t shift his view on Korean stocks. He holds CJ E&M, on the Kosdaq, and plans to revisit the small-cap index that has plunged since October. “The market has been weak due to uncertainty, and I think this vote starts to provide greater confidence that the political scandals are behind us,” he said. “I imagine it has to be taken positively. I may buy some Kosdaq names given extreme weakness we have seen.”

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