[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s top four conglomerates -- Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK and LG -- were found to be focusing their overseas operations in China.

One out of four of their offshore companies are located in China as of March this year, according to a local think tank on June 22.

In contrast, only 2.1 percent are located in the United Kingdom, which is set to vote June 23 whether to stay in the European Union.


Samsung affiliates, such asSamsung Electronics, Samsung C&T and Samsung SDS have 18 branches in Britain, followed by Hyundai Motor and LG with four each, and SK with three including SK hynix.

“A tax hike may be in order should Britain exit from the EU, and there also could be a short-term trade loss since South Korea would have to strike a new trade treaty withthe UK,” said Oh Il-sun, head of the Korea 20,000 Corporations Institute.

The four industrial groups are currently operating 1,402 overseas subsidiaries in 85 countries. Out of the total, 353 are in China and Hong Kong.

By region, almost half of the offshore firms were located in Asia, while another 24.6 are in the Americas, followed by 2.1 percent in Africa.

By country, China, the US, Canada, Mexico and Germany had the highest concentration of subsidiaries.

Meanwhile, Samsung had the highest number of offshore firms, totaling 489 in 71 countries. It added one new firm this year. Out of the 489, 17.8 percent are located in China.

Hyundai Motor runs 293 overseas branches, up from the 268 in 2015. Most of its branches are located in the US and China.

SK has 289 branches, with 41.9 percent of them located in China. LG had 331 operations, with 25.1 percent in China.

Meanwhile, 8.6 percent of the offshore firms are located in tax havens such as the Virgin Islands, Bermuda and the Netherlands.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)