All this holiday time has given me a chance to crack more of my Lone Star research to give something coherent for you all on the issue. However today I stumbled on a piece of reporting that gets an Ass-hat award.
I present you the writing of the Korean Time’s Kim Jae-Kyoung on September 16, 2003:
Analysts see the investment fund’s move as a precautionary step to avoid mistakes many foreign capitals have experienced in the course of directly managing Korean financial firms.
Korea Institute of Finance economist Sohn Sang-ho said that the U.S. fund aims to minimize the trial and error period Newbridge Capital has gone through over the past few years in running the Korea First Bank (KFB).
“Newbridge Capital applied an international banking standard to KFB, without taking due account of characteristics of Korean financial firms, such as strong labor unions,’’ Sohn said
“After the KFB was led by foreign CEOs unfamiliar with the domestic financial market, the bank had to go through trials and errors both in strategy and management,’’ he added. “Lone Star recognizes this and doesn’t want to follow in its footsteps.’’
Newbridge Capital, another U.S. investment fund which took over KFB after the 1997 financial crisis, aggressively made changes to the management and instructed managerial directives to the bank.
One reading this leads you to believe that these investment firms do a lot once they take over the bank. They change the management a great deal you would think.
Well perhaps that is true only when it fits Mr. Kim’s story. Here is Mr. Kim again not even two months later on November 7, 2003:
These funds made inroads into the local market following the 1997 financial crisis by acquiring insolvent Korean banks under the pretext of introducing advanced management practices. But they have hardly shown any new techniques, and are now preparing to leave the country for their speculative gains.
While you think about your position Mr. Kim give me your address so I can send you your Ass-hat.
Update: I was reminded of a similar situation recently, and just had to add to this to offend everyone equally.
The articles appeared in a special section of the Financial Times recently called “Investing in South Korea”. I normally do not read the FT, but stumbled upon it while on vacation. I apologize for not having links, the FT articles are via subscription.
Anyway on December 4, 2006 here is Ms. Anna Fifield of the FT in “Warm glow of ’sunshine policy’”:
When [North Korea] defied international warnings and embarked on its first nuclear test in October, South Koreans barely blinked.
Stock markets almost immediately regained their slight losses and foreign investors…flooded into the market
All sounds fine, but then take Ms. Fifield on the very next page of the paper in “Looking for a better balance”
The [Korean] National Statistics office’s measure of consumer expectations shows that South Koreans continue to remain more pessimistic then optimistic.
This is partly because job creation remains weak….and the North Korean nuclear issue weigh on Korean’s minds
Which one is it Ms. Fifield? Are the South Koreans worrying about the North or not? I would send you an Ass-hat, but…well I was going to write a few sexist comments but thought better.
10 Comments
Dram_man: Interesting award… my only question is: what does this ass-hat look like? A donkey or an arse-hole? And for the sake of Korean tradition, can we give it a ddong-chim?
It looks like Ms. Fifield’s articles suffer most from poor editing or choice of words. The first quote most likely relates to the ROK gov’t’s response, and the remarks about the stock market are factually true.
The second quote also appears factually true. Something that must be noted about the Korean stock market is that it is often not a good indicator of consumer sentiment. This is due to pretty robust foreign holdings and emerging automatic savings accounts that buy into broadly diversified funds. So, while job creation falters and consumer confidence wanes, stocks can post gains.
Koreans need to be pessimistic, a lot more pessimistic.
Korea has followed the Japanese model of economic prosperity for last 50 years. And, I believe Korea has peaked.
Japan peaked around 1985 and it is going down ever since. Real estate prices halfed. No jobs. No exports due to ridiculously high currency exchange and food is so darn expensive.
The same things are happening in Korea with the exception of real estate price. Many economists believe this bubble will burst in the middle of 2007 and bring down whole Korean economy.
What happened in Japan will happen in Korea. Just next year. 2007 will be the worst year for Koreans.
Hyundai cars are as expensive as Toyotas. Who will buy Huyndai cars? Who?
uh, I did. I hope it doesn’t get that bad.
“Who will buy Huyndai cars? Who?”
I own 3 Korean cars. Two Hyundais and a Daewoo.
http://www.boston.com/news/glo.....f_context/
US Koreans want to ban this Japanese American’s book from being required reading for school children.
This Japanese female child grew up in Northern Korea during World War II. Then, I suppose she became a US citizen, taking the name Watkins.
So far, it has a perfect 5 star rating on Amazon.com.
I think this is suitable material to reach at least 50 comments or so. More, I expect.
Somebody, any of the authors, should take it up, if interested.
sort of reminds me of Steven Spielberg’s movie, Empire of the Sun.
“Who will buy Huyndai cars? Who?”
I’ve had a Hyundai Accent for 11.5 years now, and it’s a solid, excellent car, never failed me once — though I often drive on steep narrow mountain-roads really only suitable for a 4WD jeep — my Accent always gets me up to the little temple, and then back down…
You know, dramm-man, not that I’m trying to hinder you from speaking your mind, but I do on occassion run into Ms. Fifield…
Yes, I do believe Kim deserves an Ass-hat award and then some. Didn’t Lone Star take over a bankrupt bank and turn it around very nicely? And according to the number of changes to management and other practices outlined in KFB’s annual reports over several years, I would say they made plenty of beneficial changes. They brought the bank into the 21st Century and made it capable of competing in a highly competitive market. I believe the executive management of KFB was highly capable and effective.
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[...] Due the success of my last Ass-hat award post, I figure it was time for another when I saw this. Now I know the original Ass-hats were given due to writing by the same person. These were not all done by the same writer, but the line is such a big whopper it’s ass-hat worthy. [...]
[...] So what causes this? Well the author of the column, “Raimund Royer…Medical Director of the International Clinic at the Jaseng Hospital of Oriental Medicine”, ventures into Dram_man’s Ass-hat territory with his explanations. Here is his first attempt in the piece: Most commonly, scoliosis is caused by idiopathic adolescent functional spinal curvature. “Idiopathic” means that there is no known cause. [...]