Foreign investors are estimated to have earned 5.7 trillion won ($4.63 billion) in dividend payments from their shareholdings in South Korea last year, data showed Tuesday.
According to data compiled by industry tracker FnGuide, 710 companies from the country‘s main bourse and tech-heavy KOSDAQ closing their books in December handed out 36.4 percent of combined dividends to overseas investors.
Share prices are displayed on the Korea Exchange in Seoul. (Yonhap)
Foreigners accounted for almost 40 percent of the dividends handed out by 361 listed firms listed on the main KOSPI market, up 5.7 percentage points compared to a year earlier.
In the KOSDAQ market, overseas investors accounted for 11.2 percent of the combined dividends of 883.5 billion won rolled out by 349 companies.
Samsung Electronics handed out the largest amount of dividends to foreigners estimated at 1.45 trillion won, followed by Shinhan Financial Group with 376 billion won.
Local carmakers also offered massive dividends to foreigners, with No. 1 Hyundai Motor Co. handing out 290 billion won, followed by Kia Motors with 176.5 billion won. Hyundai Mobis doled out 172.5 billion won in dividends.
(
khnews@heraldcorp.com)