About 7.8% of names under Korea’s top 60 conglomerates in the red

As many as 162 or 7.8 percent of publicly trading companies under South Korea's top 60 business groups are in an impaired capital status due to overwhelming debt, according to chaebol.com that tracks conglomerates.

Of 2,083 listed members affiliated with the country’s top 60 conglomerates with assets of more than 5 trillion won ($4.53 billion), alarm has been raised for 162 names whose balance sheet as of the end of 2017 placed equity worth below the par value of their stock.

Under Kakao Group, the operator of Korea’s most widely used mobile messaging app, 14 out of 72 units were in impaired capital status due to outsized debt.

Netmarble, one of the largest game publishers in Korea, also had eight out 26 affiliates in the red, including FiberTech, Cherry Bugs, and Netmarble Blue.

Among the top 10 chaebols, Lotte Group, the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate, topped the list with nine capital-short units. LG Group followed with five, Hyundai Motor Group four, Nonghyup Financial Group three, Posco, SK Group and GS Group two each, and Samsung Group one.

Among mid-sized conglomerates, Hyosung Group had 11 out of 52 firms with impaired capital, including Sebitseom and Gongdeok Gyeongwoo Development. Construction-focused Booyoung Group had five out of 24 companies with oversized debt, including Booyoung CC and Namyang Development. Other chaebols on the list include SM Group, E-Land Group, Dongkuk Steel, and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

Fourteen conglomerates including Hyundai Heavy Industries, LS Group, Hyundai Department Store, Celltrion, and Hansol had zero capital-impaired affiliates.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]