作者：Youkyung Lee迈克尔·伯里（Michael Burry）的一位门徒警告称，韩国廉价股票背后隐藏着一个陷阱：其大部分价值往往让少数股东难以触及。
By Youkyung Lee A protégé of Michael Burry has warned that South Korea’s cheap stocks come with a catch: much of their value is often kept out of reach of minority shareholders.
位于加利福尼亚州库比蒂诺的Pomerium Capital Management LLC创始人菲尔·克利夫顿（Phil Clifton）在8月份的行程中，与韩国和日本的大约二十多家公司进行了会面。他在9月29日致投资者的一封信中写道，他回国后确信，在韩国投资“需要对管理层的激励机制保持特别的谨慎和关注”。彭博新闻社看到了这封信。
Phil Clifton, founder of Pomerium Capital Management LLC in Cupertino, California, met with about two dozen companies in Korea and Japan during his trip in August. He returned convinced that investing in Korea “requires a special degree of caution and attention to managerial incentives,” he wrote in a Sept. 29 letter to investors seen by Bloomberg News.
他在信中写道：“韩国股市乍一看确实像是资本主义的天堂”，到处都是利润率健康且增长稳健的企业。然而，他指出，股东利益与企业经营者利益之间经常存在错位。
“The Korean stock market does look like capitalist heaven at first glance,” full of businesses with healthy margins and solid growth, he wrote in the letter. Yet, there is frequent misalignment between the interests of shareholders and of those running the businesses, he noted.
克利夫顿表示，尽管许多韩国企业的交易价格较全球同行有大幅折让，但这种超额价值往往是少数股东无法触及的——尤其是在创始家族保留重大控制权的企业中。
While many Korean businesses trade at steep discounts to global peers, that excess value is often out of reach for minority shareholders — particularly in businesses where founding families retain significant control, Clifton said.
克利夫顿是Scion Asset Management除伯里之外的最后一位投资组合经理。伯里因电影《大空头》而闻名，并于2025年11月注销了该对冲基金。据《金融时报》报道，伯里曾向客户推荐克利夫顿，称他是一位了不起的年轻人才和一位非凡的思想家。克利夫顿于1月创办了Pomerium。
Clifton was the last portfolio manager at Scion Asset Management besides Burry, the investor made famous by who deregistered the hedge fund in November 2025. Burry pointed clients to Clifton, calling him a tremendous young talent and a prodigious thinker, according to the Financial Times. Clifton started Pomerium in January.
他将此归咎于韩国的遗产税和赠与税，在某些情况下，这些税率最高可达60%，且上市公司股份按市值征税。这使得控股家族有动力通过囤积现金、投资无关业务以及支付极少甚至不支付股息来压低股价。
He blames South Korea’s inheritance and gift tax, which can reach 60% in some cases, with stakes in listed companies taxed at market value. That gives controlling families an incentive to suppress stock prices by hoarding cash, investing in unrelated businesses and paying little or no dividends.
他说：“此类企业的股票实际上是没有任何票息或本金回报的永久债券，无论基础业务表现如何，它们最终都会变成毫无起色的‘价值陷阱’。”
“Shares in such enterprises are effectively perpetual bonds with no coupons or principal return, becoming ‘value traps’ that go nowhere regardless of how well the underlying business performs,” he said.
近年来，韩国吸引了越来越多全球投资者的关注。韩国政府一直在推动企业治理改革，旨在提高股东回报，尤其是针对那些由家族控制的财阀企业（即“chaebol”）。一些投资者认为，这些改革有望提升韩国股市的估值；长期以来，韩国股市一直受到所谓的“韩国折价”（即相对于其他市场的低估）现象的拖累，而日本在类似改革后股市表现强劲，这为韩国股市带来了希望。
South Korea has drawn growing interest from global investors in recent years as the government pushes corporate governance reforms aimed at boosting shareholder returns, particularly at family-controlled conglomerates known as chaebol. Some investors are optimistic the efforts could lead to a re-rating of the country’s stock market, long held back by the so-called “Korea Discount,” echoing gains in neighboring Japan following similar reforms.
此外，韩国在全球人工智能供应链中扮演着关键角色，这一因素也推动了韩国综合股价指数（Kospi）在今年上涨超过100%，并在6月达到历史新高。然而，随着市场疑虑的加剧，股市随后出现了回调。
That push, coupled with the country’s key role in the global AI supply chain, helped propel the Kospi up more than 100% this year through a June high, before the rally unraveled as doubts crept in.
Clifton对日本股市的看法更为乐观。他表示，直到最近，日本股市中仍存在许多被严重低估的公司；不过，交易所和监管机构为解决这一问题所付出的努力已经取得了相当大的成效。
Japan left Clifton more upbeat. The market was until recently full of severely undervalued companies, but efforts by exchange authorities and regulators to resolve the discount have been rather successful, he said.
他写道：“对我们来说幸运的是，日本的估值折价现象尚未完全消失。”尤其是像Medley Inc.这样的小型、高增长企业——Pomerium的主要持股公司——其估值仍然被低估。Medley的董事会在8月宣布了一项分红政策，计划将股息支付率定为约30%。虽然Clifton更倾向于在当前股价水平上进行股票回购，但他对这一举措表示欢迎：“这显然比购买豪华酒店或投资数据中心要好得多。”
“Luckily for us, the valuation discounts in Japan have not fully disappeared,” he wrote. That is especially true for smaller, faster growing businesses such as health tech company Medley Inc., Pomerium’s top holding. Medley’s board announced a dividend policy in August targeting a payout ratio of around 30%. While Clifton prefers more stock buybacks at current prices, he welcomed the move. “It’s certainly a better alternative than buying a luxury hotel or investing in data centers,” he said.