Shinhan Asset Management said on the 18th that it will newly list the "SOL Korea high dividends" exchange-traded fund (ETF) and the "SOL Korea AI software" ETF on the 23rd.
The two products were planned to reflect the "realization of the Korea premium" (strengthening trust in the capital market and shareholder returns) and the "fostering of the AI industry and ecosystem" among the 12 key strategic tasks in the new administration's five-year state affairs plan.
The "SOL Korea high dividends" ETF selects 20 stocks with high expected dividend yields among corporations with dividend growth and sound financial structures, then adds corporations that have implemented reduced dividends and those with strong share buyback yields, bringing the total to 30 corporations in the portfolio.
Under the new administration, to invigorate dividend investing, separate taxation applies to high-dividend corporations (corporations with a payout ratio of 40% or more, or with a payout ratio of 25% or more and dividends up more than 5% compared with the average of the past three years), and the strategy reflected that ordinary shareholders still benefit from tax exemption on reduced dividends. Shinhan Asset Management also noted that the strategy reflects the fact that, through a recent amendment to the Commercial Act, mandatory cancellation of treasury shares is under discussion.
In particular, the differentiator from simple high-dividend ETFs is that corporations implementing reduced dividends were used as a key criterion for stock selection. In the case of reduced dividends, they qualify for tax exemption, which can boost the ETF's actual distributions.
Top portfolio holdings include ▲ Woori Financial Group ▲ Hana Financial Group ▲ Kia ▲ Hyundai Motor ▲ Shinhan Financial Group. Corporations benefiting from separate taxation of dividend income account for 76% of the overall portfolio. Corporations implementing reduced dividends, such as ▲ Korea Investment Holdings ▲ Hyundai Elevator, also make up about 22%.
The "SOL Korea AI software" ETF is a product that allows concentrated investment in domestic AI software corporations. As the government reaffirmed a "leap to the world's top three in AI" among the 12 key strategic tasks and is pushing sovereign AI development, expanded public and private AI use, and additional fiscal input of 25 trillion won, the fund includes 15 core corporations expected to have future growth potential in line with that.
As major components, Kakao and Naver account for about 50% of the entire portfolio. They are followed by ▲ Samsung SDS ▲ Kakao Pay ▲ LG CNS ▲ Douzone Bizon ▲ SELVAS AI ▲ Konan Technology ▲ Cafe24 ▲ Polaris Office.