Weekly | Kimchi, Burgers and Planes
ADR Arb vs. Merger Arb
Free money?
On Friday morning, Sk Hynix 000660.KS closed at KRW 2,180,000, or a USD equivalent price of $1,454.
Later that day, its long awaited ADR got listed. With King Leopold leading the charge, SKHY closed at $168, stretching to $172 in the after hours — or $1,721 on an apples-to-apples basis vs. its Korean cousin at the 10:1 ADR/local ratio.
With the Korean markets closed, the apparent trade — if you could execute it — would be to buy local & sell American for an implied AH spread of 18.4%.