Closed Loop

Asset management Korea Investment & Securities deepens global ties with 2nd IR in New York

Korea Investment & Securities Co. (KIS), the brokerage unit of Korea Investment Holdings Co., said on Wednesday it hosted its flagship investor ...

Business & Politics Trump Jr. to visit Seoul next week to meet Korean business leaders

Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of the US President Donald Trump, is set to visit Seoul next week and meet with Korean business leaders grappling w...

Korean chipmakers Samsung’s system chip, foundry business under close scrutiny for overhaul

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest memory chipmaker, has put its system chip and foundry businesses under tight scrutiny for a possi...

Mergers & Acquisitions Affinity Equity set to close $1.1 bn purchase of Lotte Rental

Affinity Equity Partners said on Friday that it will sign a definitive agreement on March 11 with Lotte Group to acquire a 56.2% stake in South Kore...

Real estate NPS closes $1.6 bn Korean office deal; scientists pension eyes NCSOFT building

The National Pension Service (NPS) has completed the purchase of One Grove for 2.3 trillion won ($1.6 billion), its largest single real estate inves...

Economy South Korea jumps to world’s No. 6 exporter; 2025 outlook dims

South Korea has sharply narrowed the gap in export value with Japan to a record low of $20.2 billion so far this year. But the country’s expor...

Mergers & Acquisitions MBK, Young Poong close in on majority of Korea Zinc

A consortium of MBK Partners and Young Poong Corp. has raised its stake in Korea Zinc Inc. to 46.7% of voting shares, drawing the group closer to ma...

Private equity Kamur PE sells cutting tool maker JJ Tools to Blackstone

Seoul-based Kamur Private Equity has signed a definitive agreement to sell a majority stake in South Korean industrial cutting tool manufacturer JJ ...

Private equity MBK Partners’ 6th buyout fund raises $5 bn at 2nd close

MBK Partners, a North Asia-focused private equity firm, has completed the second closing of its sixth buyout fund at $5 billion, on course to reach ...

Artificial intelligence AI startup MarqVision raises $16.5 mn to close Series A round

MarqVision Inc., a startup developing an artificial intelligence-powered intellectual property (IP) protection platform, raised 22 billion won ($16....

Retail Duty-free underdog Kyung Bok Kung outshines Lotte, Shilla

Kyung Bok Kung Duty-Free Co., a lesser-known travel retailer, has bucked the trend of South Korea's sluggish duty-free retail industry on a downward...

Shipping & Shipbuilding Hanwha to take full control of S’pore Dyna-Mac with tender offer

South Korea’s chemicals-to-defense conglomerate Hanwha Group plans to acquire all shares it does not own in Dyna-Mac Holdings Ltd., a Singapor...

IPOs LG Electronics mulls Indian IPO, to invest in HVAC, webOS content: CEO

LG Electronics Inc., a leading South Korean home appliance maker, is considering an initial public offering of its Indian business to help achieve a...

Bio & Pharma Celltrion gets FDA nod for Keytruda copy's phase 3 clinical trials

Celltrion Inc., South Korea’s biosimilar giant, will proceed with phase 3 trials for global blockbuster drug Keytruda’s copycat CT-P51, ...

Automobiles The new Kia K8: A high-tech, modern and innovative sedan

South Korea’s second-largest automaker Kia Corp. on Friday unveiled a new K8 large-size sedan, its first drastic facelift in three years.Kia, ...

Korean stock market South Korean stocks rebound but still on rollercoaster

South Korean stocks on Tuesday recouped some of their hefty losses caused by the previous day's global panic selling after financial authorities iss...

Banking & Finance Activist fund KCGI to buy Hanyang Securities for $180 mn

South Korean private equity firm KCGI Co. is expected to acquire local brokerage house Hanyang Securities Co. for 244.9 billion won ($179.8 million)...

Venture capital SoftBank-backed Tridge in trouble amid Korean startup doom

Tridge Co., South Korea’s first agricultural product and food trading platform operator invested in by SoftBank Group Corp., is in financial t...

Korean startups PhyxUp closes in on pre-seed round with US advance

PhyxUp Health Inc., an early stage South Korean digital healthcare startup, will soon close a pre-seed funding round, said its founder and chief, wh...

Aerospace & Defense Hanwha Aerospace closes in on Romania’s howitzer deal

Hanwha Aerospace Co., South Korea’s major aerospace and defense system developer, is highly expected to bag a $920 million contract to supply ...

Real estate WeWork closes major office in Seoul for restructuring

Coworking space operator WeWork Inc. is slated to shut down a major office in Seoul, once one of the largest WeWork offices in Asia, in September ...

Korean chipmakers SK Hynix works on next-generation HBM chip supply plans for 2025

South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc. said on Thursday it is working on next year’s supply plans for its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips as clie...

Travel & Leisure InterContinental Seoul COEX to close in July

Parnas Hotel announced on Monday that the InterContinental Seoul COEX, which opened in 1999, will close its operations on July 1 and is scheduled to...

Asset management Niche real asset creates new opportunities, Korean investors say

The scope of real assets is expanding with new businesses such as infrastructure operating services and supply chain management, creating niche oppo...

Corporate bonds Qcells’ residential solar financing unit raises $253 mn through ABS

Hanwha Q Cells Co., the solar power unit of South Korea’s chemicals-to-defense conglomerate Hanwha Group known as Qcells in overseas markets, ...

E-commerce Korea scraps ban on online purchase of 80 items from abroad

South Korea has scrapped a plan to ban direct purchases of some 80 items from overseas e-commerce platforms, a government office said on Sunday, aft...

Central bank BOK's rate policy back to square one after GDP, Fed comments

TBILISI, Georgia – The Bank of Korea (BOK) will go back to square one on monetary policy as stronger-than-expected economic growth in the...

E-commerce MBK to delist Korean e-commerce Connectwave after tender offer

MBK Partners, one of the largest Asian private equity firms, is set to delist South Korea’s leading e-commerce operator Connectwave Co. from t...

Petrochemicals LG Chem to close base chemical styrene monomer business

LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's No. 1 petrochemical company, will shut down its styrene monomer (SM) production line this month and is mulling closing a...

Food & Beverage Korean bakeries with French names outsmart French peers

Paris Baguette and Tous les Jours, South Korea's two largest bakery brands, have been consolidating their positions in the saturated domestic market...