An international tribunal ordered the South Korean government to pay 43-point-eight billion won, or 32 million U.S. dollars in compensation to a U.S.-based hedge fund in an investor-state dispute settlement(ISDS) over the controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates.
 
According to the Ministry of Justice on Thursday, the Permanent Court of Arbitration(PCA) ruled that the government should compensate Mason Capital 32 million dollars, which is just 16 percent of the 200 million dollars the hedge fund demanded.
 
The PCA also ordered the government to pay 14-point-99 billion won in legal fees and arbitration costs to Mason Capital, leading to a total compensation payment of 58-point-84 billion won.
 
Mason Capital, which held a two-point-18 percent share in Samsung C&T at the time, opposed the 2015 merger, claiming that the proposed exchange ratio of zero-point-35 Chaeil shares for every Samsung C&T share undervalued the shares it held.
 

The hedge fund argued that the government intervened in favor of the merger by exerting excessive influence on the state-run National Pension Service(NPS), a major shareholder of Samsung C&T, to approve the merger.