[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 were located in China as of March this year, according to a local think tank on Wednesday.


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

Samsung affiliates, such as Samsung 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 with the U.K.,” 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 in Asia, while another 24.6 percent are in the Americas, followed by 2.1 percent in Africa.

By country, China, the U.S., 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 in China.

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

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

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

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