SK Hynix's 51% Arbitrage Trade Thwarted by Rigorous Conversion Limit

BlockBeats News, July 23rd: One of the world's most attractive arbitrage opportunities is still out of reach. A South Korean securities custody institution stated that SK Hynix has set the upper limit of its Korean-listed stock converted to American Depositary Receipts (ADR) traded in the U.S. at 2.5% of the total shares outstanding.

This news has revealed a key issue that investors have been closely following since the company's successful U.S. listing. The CEO of the Korean securities depository institution stated that the $26.5 billion ADR issued by SK Hynix on July 10th has reached the issuance limit.

This means that unless existing ADR holders first convert their U.S. traded ADRs back to Korean stocks to free up issuance space, investors will not be able to convert their Seoul-listed stocks into ADRs. SK Hynix declined to comment on this.