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The recent campaign by activist hedge fund operators Carl Icahn and Warren Lichtenstein to shake up KT&G, the former South Korean tobacco and ginseng monopoly that still dominates the local cigarette market, has brought to the fore debates on corporate governance and takeover defences.
Activist funds across Asia
Precedent
It’s worth noting that a veteran corporate raider like Icahn, fresh from his recent campaign against Time Warner, would almost certainly not have been attracted to Korea had not Dubai-based Sovereign Global Investment, which is a private investment vehicle but not a hedge fund, walked away from its two-year assault on South Korea’s SK Corp in July last year with a five-fold return on its $142 million investment.
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