Top 10 group's stock values fall 44%

As a result of the continuous fall in stock prices, the market capitalization of the nation's top 10 business groups and the value of stocks owned by their heads plunged more than 40% this year.

The Korea Stock Exchange reported Wednesday that the market capitalization of the 10 leading groups, excluding Daewoo Group, slid 44% to 92.39 trillion won as of Sept. 18 from 164.19 trillion won at the beginning of the year.

The percentage of the shares owned by the groups dropped to 35.2% of the market's total from 45.9% at the outset of the year.

As a result of the market's crash, the appraisal value of shares held by chaebol group heads retracted by as much as 41% during the period.

In particular, Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-Youn saw hits stock value plunge 64%, while Hanjin chairman Cho Choong-Hoon and LG chairman Koo Bon-Moo suffered 56% and 55% drops in stock values. The value of stocks owned by Ssangyong Group chairman Kim Suk-Won and Hyundai Asan chairman Chung Mong-Hun slashed 54% and 51%. However, Lotte Group chairman Shin Kyuk-Ho fared well in comparison, as his stock value fell 4% during the same period.

Among the nation¡¯s top 30 business groups, the larger the chaebol, the harder it was hit. The market capitalization of the 30 chaebols dropped 40.85%, and their weighting in the market declined to 47.55% from 49.78% at the start of the year.

Among the top 30, only S-Oil recorded a rise in its market capitalization from the beginning of the year. On the other hand, Saehan Group and 14 other conglomerates saw their stock values fall steeper than the overall slide of the Korea Composite Stock Price Index.

The Korea Stock Exchange reported that the market dominance by the nation's top 10 or top 30 chaebol groups was weakened substantially since major bad news, such as corporate financial trouble, that hit the market originated from the business groups.

lcy@donga.com