SINGAPORE – Activist investor Flashlight Capital Partners has requested the shareholder registers of five units of the powerful Samsung conglomerate that hold a substantial stake in S-1 Corporation, stepping up a campaign to improve returns at the South Korean security company.

Sanghyun Lee, the founder and CEO of Singapore-based Flashlight, is seeking to reach out to shareholders of five units of the chaebol that he characterised as exerting outsized influence over S-1, which has lagged behind the returns of the benchmark KOSPI over the past few years.

The five companies - Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung Securities and Samsung Card - collectively own 20.6 per cent of S-1 Corp’s shares, according to shareholder information on its website.

S-1’s biggest shareholder is Japan’s SECOM, with a 25.7 per cent stake, though Samsung Group usually appoints one of its executives as CEO.

S-1 also holds 11 per cent of its own stock as treasury shares, a practice that critics say allows management to exercise a defence against hostile takeovers.

“With access to the shareholder registers, we will be able to communicate directly with the shareholders of these five companies,” Lee said.

“These shareholders have a direct interest in ensuring that their boards properly evaluate our offer and make the decision that best serves shareholder interests,” he said in a press release.

“We intend to reach as many of them as possible.”

Samsung Group and its five affiliates did not respond to requests for comment while S-1 said it has “no position to state”.

“This matter concerns a proposal by one of our shareholders to purchase ...