Asian Development Bank

Earnings KakaoBank posts record Q1 profit, eyes Thai expansion after Indonesia

KakaoBank Corp., a leading South Korean internet-only bank, posted its highest quarterly profit in the first quarter, defying a drop in interest inc...

Woori Financial wins approval for Tongyang, ABL Life acquisition

Woori Financial Group Inc., South Korea’s fourth-largest financial services provider, has received conditional approval from the country&rsquo...

Debt financing Kookmin Bank raises $700 mn in forex bonds amid strong demand

Kookmin Bank, a unit of KB Financial Group, raised $700 million in foreign exchange bonds on Tuesday, signaling a recovery in investor sentiment tow...

Shipping & Shipbuilding Hanwha Ocean shares sink after KDB's sale of 4.2% stake

Investors rushed to dump Hanwha Ocean Co. shares early Tuesday after its second-largest shareholder, Korea Development Bank, cashed in on a 4.2% sta...

Mergers & Acquisitions Kyobo Life poised to buy Japan’s SBI Group-owned savings bank

Kyobo Life Insurance Co. is in the final stages of negotiation with Japanese financial group SBI Holdings Inc. to buy about a 50% stake in SBI Savin...

IPOs LG Electronics eyes India IPO delay, says plan in flux

LG Electronics Inc. is mulling putting off an initial public offering of its wholly owned subsidiary in India amid growing volatility in the global ...

Batteries Samsung SDI, Hanwha Ocean to usher in battery-driven submarine era

Hanwha Ocean Co. and Samsung SDI Co. will start evaluating their jointly developed lithium-ion battery system for a submarine with South Korea&rsquo...

Food & Beverage India: Tantalizing frontier for K-food’s global ambitions beyond China

South Korea’s processed food exports to India have surged to a record 6 trillion won ($4.1 billion), marking a significant milestone in the gr...

Real estate S.Korean gaming giant Netmarble eyes headquarters building sale

Netmarble Corp., a leading South Korean gaming company, is seeking to sell its headquarters building in Seoul, which could fetch up to 800 billion w...

Asset management Strong momentum in non-US markets, digital real estate: Principal AM CEO

It is time to shift focus toward non-US markets after years of stellar performance of US assets driven by the robust world’s No. 1 economy, sa...

Automobiles Korea’s KG Mobility teams up with Chery to develop mid to large SUVs

KG Mobility Corp., a South Korean automaker specializing in sport utility vehicles, said on Wednesday it joined hands with China’s fourth-larg...

Automobiles Hyundai, GM near to unveiling EV, pickup truck sharing plan

Hyundai Motor Co. and General Motors Co. are expected to soon announce a vehicle-sharing deal about six months after they signed an agreement for th...

Batteries LG Energy, Doosan Bobcat tie up for construction equipment battery packs

LG Energy Solution Ltd., the world’s third-largest battery maker, and Doosan Bobcat Inc., a global construction machinery producer, said on We...

Venture capital South Korean VCs back US humanoid robot developer Apptronik

South Korean venture capital firms invested undisclosed tens of billions of won, equivalent to tens of millions of dollars, in US humanoid-developin...

Games Krafton invests in 10 overseas game startups in 2024

Krafton Inc. invested in 10 overseas game developers in 2024 in search of the next big franchise intellectual property (IP) following its mega-hit t...

Banking & Finance Shinhan Bank partners with Hyundai Mobis for loan services to suppliers

Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea’s top auto parts maker, has partnered with the country’s biggest lender Shinhan Bank to help its partners...

Shipping & Shipbuilding Hanwha develops cutting-edge stealth paint for next-generation warships

Hanwha Ocean Co., a leading South Korean warship builder, has developed and tested an advanced stealth paint designed for the country’s KDDX n...

Shipping & Shipbuilding HD Hyundai to invest $206 mn to develop SMR ship

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (HD KSOE), an intermediary shipbuilding holding company of HD Hyundai Co., will invest up to 30...

Foreign exchange Seoul to lift curbs on banks' investment in kimchi bonds

South Korea will lift restrictions on banks' purchase of domestically issued foreign currency bonds, dubbed “kimchi bonds," as part of policy ...

Future mobility Hyundai, Avride join hands to develop autonomous robotaxis

Hyundai Motor Co. has agreed to partner with Avride, an autonomous driving technology startup, to develop driverless robotaxis based on all-electric...

Foreign exchange South Korea’s forex reserves dip to nearly 5-year low in February

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves diminished to the lowest level in nearly five years last month, largely due to the expanded forex swap...

Bio & Pharma Chong Kun Dang to build new plant for foray into biologics market

Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp. is discussing building a research center and a plant in Siheung, about 30 kilometers southwest of Seoul, with th...

Batteries Hyundai, Samsung deepen ties to win humanoid race

South Korea’s household technology and automotive names Samsung and Hyundai have reinforced their alliance to capture the global humanoid robo...

Central bank Bank of Korea cuts rates, growth forecast on Trump tariff policy

South Korea’s central bank on Tuesday cut interest rates while sharply reducing its economic growth forecast as lingering political turmoil fo...

Aerospace & Defense S.Korea’s defense order backlog reaches record $73.1 billion at end-2024

South Korea’s seven major defense companies saw their combined order backlog reach a record 105.6 trillion won ($73.1 billion) at the end of 2...

Economy S.Korea’s default risk dips below pre-martial law levels

South Korea’s financial market has stabilized with a sharp fall in the country’s default risk and some recovery of its currency value ag...

Commodities FOMO-driven gold rush lifts kimchi premium on gold to highest level

With South Korean retail investors joining the global gold rush in ‘fear of missing out’, or FOMO, the country’s gold price has ...

Cryptocurrencies S.Korea to allow listed firms to trade cryptocurrencies in second half

South Korea plans to allow companies listed on the local stock market to trade virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies, on a pilot basis in the s...

Shipping & Shipbuilding HD Korea Shipbuilding premieres nuclear-powered ship design

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (HD KSOE), the parent of the world’s largest shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.,...

Asset management US Capital Group raises stake in South Korea’s LS Electric

Capital Group Companies Inc. has increased its stake in LS Electric Co., a South Korean supplier to Elon Musk’s X.AI Corp., as the US asset ma...