Dalton Investments

Dalton Investments announced the opening of a new office in Seoul, Korea, to be co-headed by Dalton Partner James(Sung Yoon) Lim and former Merrill Lynch Korea research head Bryan Gisuk Song. Read the press release here.

Owens Huang a portfolio manager at Dalton Investments, a U.S. investment firm, pointed out that "this challenges the U.S. government's restrictions on technology exports to China and could lead to increased scrutiny of companies like Nvidia, which are key to the supply chain of AI semiconductors." However, the emergence of low-cost AI models developed as open source based on existing technologies will accelerate the adoption and spread of AI, and it can be said that "demand for AI semiconductors from Nvidia and others will actually increase worldwide." There are opinions, such as those of Dalton's Mr. Huang, that "large language models (LLMs), which serve as the foundation of generative AI, will eventually become commodities (undifferentiated, general-purpose goods), which will deal a competitive blow to companies like OpenAI and Anthropic." Read the article here (in Japanese):?https://lnkd.in/gWtRwHZg

Owens Huang, Portfolio Manager at Dalton Investments, was interviewed by Hedge Fund Alpha, discussing everything from his background in Chemistry to his interest in music composition and history with holding NVIDIA shares. Huang’s investing style has evolved over the years as he started thinking more like a composer. "I think every artist, we have a mind to think about what human beings want 100 years later," Huang added. "We don't think about what they want next month or year, so we create art that's prepared for something later. This made me think long term. Nowadays when I make investment decisions, I want to hold the company for at least five years,” Huang says. Read more about Huang’s investment philosophy here.

? James(Sung Yoon) Lim, Senior Research Analyst at Dalton Investments, was recently featured in Business Korea, discussing the Commercial Act Amendment in Korea, which would expand the fiduciary duty of directors from “the company” to “the company and shareholders.” According to Lim, the amendment would provide attractive investment opportunities for active shareholders in the Korean stock market. Read the article here.

The decision by South Korea’s left-leaning Democratic Party to scrap the capital gains tax, alongside the right-leaning Yoon administration’s introduction of the Corporate Value-Up Program, reflects a shift in the political landscape regarding the stock market. The stock market has now become a significant political priority, with both sides focusing on addressing the “Korea Discount” and boosting market performance. Read more here.

Owens Huang, Portfolio Manager, discusses the four key structural challenges facing China in his piece, “Thoughts from a China Bear.” According to Huang, the sudden rebound in demand for Chinese equities does not suggest that China has already bottomed out. Foreign companies are increasingly pulling out of China, affecting not only the manufacturing sector but also other industries that once capitalized on China's booming consumer market.

?Masumi Nishida, Partner at Dalton Investments and Managing Director of Dalton Advisory KK (Dalton’s Japan research office), was featured on the Business Breakdowns podcast discussing activism in Japan. The podcast covers the selection process for attractive activist opportunities and explains how the approach to corporate governance and dividend policy differs between Japan and the US. Listen to the podcast here: https://lnkd.in/gNfYu45j

The victory of Shigeru Ishiba in the 2024 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential election has generally been viewed with caution in the investment community. Having analyzed the manner of Ishiba’s victory and the statements made in the weeks before the election, Dalton takes a more cautiously positive view, with our base-case being a continuation of the economic and market policies of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Read Dalton’s thoughts on the Ishiba victory here.

Owens Huang, Partner, Senior Research Analyst and Portfolio Manager at Dalton Investments, spoke at the AI Investment Forum of the Taiwan Tech Summit on September 14, 2024th. The Taiwan Tech Summit is a premier conference that connects engineers, supply chain experts, young talents, and more from Taiwan and the US. On the video, Owens discusses Dalton’s approach to investing in AI-related companies and what future developments in AI could mean for key technology stocks, such as TSMC and Samsung, as well as under-the-radar supply chain companies in Taiwan. https://lnkd.in/gAbJVSpa

Portfolio Manager Venkat Pasupuleti was quoted in Barron's, discussing India’s hot IPO market and the impact of the country’s Systematic Investment Programs on valuations (particularly in small and mid-cap stocks). Dalton currently finds better opportunities in larger cap Indian stocks, which have been somewhat abandoned by global investors. Read more about India’s IPO Market here (behind a paywall): https://lnkd.in/gGaSx8WB