KOSDAQ: 194 Firms Fall Below Market-Cap Threshold for Administrative Designation

As of Aug 7, 194 companies listed on South Korea's KOSDAQ market had a market capitalization below the threshold for administrative designation, accounting for 10.6% of the 1,820 companies on the bourse. Another 41 companies on the KOSPI market were in the same position. The thresholds were raised on July 1: KOSDAQ's minimum market cap requirement increased from 15 billion won to 20 billion won, and KOSPI's increased from 20 billion won to 30 billion won. Under the rules, a company whose market cap remains below the threshold for 30 consecutive trading days will be designated as an administrative issue. Once designated, the company must recover to above the threshold for 45 consecutive trading days within a 90-trading-day window, or it will enter the delisting process. On the share price side, 48 listed companies have disclosed a risk of administrative designation because their shares stayed below 1,000 won for 25 consecutive trading days. That group consists of 38 KOSDAQ companies and 10 KOSPI companies. If, by Aug 12, those companies still have not logged a trading day in which the share price reached 1,000 won, they could be designated starting from the next trading day. The figures, carried by NATE and published by Odaily, highlight how the revised standards are affecting a meaningful number of listed companies across both South Korean markets.