Samsung Corp. - the challenges of being public

This is an interesting case. Samsung Corp. of Korea is one of the most exciting companies in Asia, and this despite the fact that it is not necessarily known for the best corporate goverance around. Korea is also one of those countries in Asia, where the population is very much opposed to foreign ownership of its companies. Now it might be that these two facts head towards a collision.

Foreign investors, naturally attracted by a roaring Samsung, have started to buy shares of the company in the open market - total foreign shareholding stands at 46.3% in June compared to 19.6% in May. However, this might require that foreign shareholders combine their "attack" to take over the company - something that we don't necessarily foresee in the near future, although SK Corp, another Korean conglomerate, was under takeover threats just a couple of months ago.