The more shares held by foreign investors last year,... the more likely it was for the local companies to boost their dividend payouts last year.<br />This is in contrast to the lower dividend payments typical of Korean companies.<br />Local market analyst WISEfn says... of the combined 14 billion U.S. dollars in dividends paid by 8-hundred-85 listed companies in Korea,... around 5-billion was paid to foreigners.<br />That's a near 19-percent increase from the previous year.<br />This was more evident with Korean smartphone maker Samsung Electronics,... which had 52-percent of its shares held by foreign investors last year,... an increase of 3-percent from the previous year.
