Foreign shareholders have been attracted to state utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) amid expectations for better shareholders benefits due to its capital leeway to reward bond and share holders from less need to make new investments.

Foreign shareholding in the utility company reached all-time high of 33 percent upon news that KEPCO has been retrieving capital investments since last year instead of making new ones.

“Foreign investors expect better shareholder policy from companies retrieving capital from former investments than those in the stage of making capital investments,” said Lee Jae-man, an analyst of Hana Financial Investment Co. on Wednesday.

Matured companies like KEPCO pose as safe bet for foreign investors with murky prospects in the global economy and market. KEPCO stock gained nearly 20 percent this year upon foreign buying spree.

The financial activity in the company’s cash flow statement placed 5.21 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in negative zone last year, a sharp reversal from a positive figure of 1.99 trillion won in 2014. The financing activity in cash flow focuses on how a company raises capital and pays it back to investors. A positive number indicates cash has come into the company while a negative figure suggests a company has paid out capital such as paying off long-term debt or dividend payment to shareholders.

Other companies in the position to be more retrieving than investing capital are Samsung Electronics Co., Korea Zink Inc., S-1 Corp., and Poongsan Corp., and Mando Corp. Naver Corp. and Hansol Chemical Co. are expected to start retrieving capital from this year. Their stock prices will likely benefit from foreign preference.

By Yong Hwan-jin

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