Fortune Asia Future 30

Arts Seoul appeal: Korean art captivates Indonesia’s affluent connoisseurs

JAKARTA – Last Thursday, Baik Art gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia, was crowded with well-heeled art patrons eager to meet a revered artist from ...

Alternative investments Meritz backs half of ex-manager’s $210 mn hedge fund

Meritz Financial Group Inc., one of South Korea’s most aggressive alternative asset managers, has committed 150 billion won ($105 million) to ...

Batteries POSCO Future M to make spherical graphite as it cuts dependence on China

POSCO Future M Co., South Korea’s leading battery materials maker, is set to manufacture spherical graphite – a critical material for ba...

Culture & Trends S.Korea’s medical tourism thrives on weak currency

Foreign visitors to South Korea jumped nearly 20% early this year, largely driven by a sharp depreciation in the country’s currency value agai...

Asset management South Korea’s young rich vs old rich: Coins, art outpace bonds, funds

Young South Korean millionaires, placing bold wagers on unconventional financial assets such as cryptocurrencies and art, are gaining ground fast, g...

Business & Politics S.Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ousted; new presidential election coming

South Korea’s Constitutional Court permanently removed President Yoon Suk Yeol from office on Friday, making him the country’s second pr...

Real estate Asia Property to buy WeWork building in Seoul

Seoul-based real estate investment firm Asia Property has been picked as the sole preferred bidder for an office building currently occupied by cowo...

Leadership & Management Samsung Chairman Lee meets with Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun for partnership

BEIJING – Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong has met with Xiaomi Inc. Chief Executive Lei Jun in the Chinese capital, raising specu...

Corporate strategy Hyundai chief Chung Euisun targets software-led car dominance by 2028

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun has set an ambitious target to outpace Tesla Inc. in software-defined vehicle (SDV) technology by 2028, un...

Corporate strategy Hankook Tire seeks to evolve beyond tires, auto parts

Hankook & Company Co., the holding company of Hankook Tire & Technology Co., will ramp up battery production for energy storage systems and ...

Mergers & Acquisitions Winia cancels acquisition deal with Seoul Private Equity

Winia Co., a South Korean home appliance manufacturer under court-led restructuring, has terminated its conditional acquisition agreement with Seoul...

Leadership & Management Kakao founder Kim to resign as control tower chair

Kakao Corp. founder Kim Beom-soo, also known as Brian Kim, will step down as chairman of the South Korean tech giant’s top decision-making bod...

Private equity South Korea emerges as private equity firms’ global hub

New York-based Apollo Global Management and London-based Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) have joined the ranks of global private equity firms that ...

Business & Politics Asia’s defense stocks climb on hopes of more European arms spending

Defense stocks in key Asian markets jumped on Tuesday, buoyed by expectations that European nations will boost security spending amid fears that the...

Alternative investments Korea Investment & Securities aims to be Asia's top securities firm

Korea Investment & Securities Co. will step up its asset management business by launching innovative global investment products, aiming to surpa...

Automobiles Hyundai Motor launches future strategy division overseeing M&As

Hyundai Motor Group has created a future business strategy division that serves as a control tower for the automotive group’s expansion into n...

Real estate PAG raises $4 bn for opportunistic Asia real estate fund

PAG, an Asia Pacific-focused alternative investment firm, on Friday announced the final close of its 10th opportunistic real estate fund at $4 billi...

Mergers & Acquisitions MBK-led consortium to take over Japan’s FICT for $656 mn

MBK Partners, the largest private equity firm in North Asia, will acquire a controlling stake in FICT Ltd., a semiconductor printed circuit board (P...

Artificial intelligence LG, SNU team up to develop AI modeling for protein structure predictions

LG AI Research Institute, the artificial intelligence think-tank of LG Group, South Korea’s fourth-biggest conglomerate, on Thursday signed a ...

Corporate restructuring POSCO seeks $1 bn restructuring amid weak steel, battery materials sectors

South Korea’s POSCO Holdings Inc. said on Monday it plans to sell 61 unprofitable and non-core assets to raise 1.5 trillion won ($1 billion) a...

Energy HD Hyundai Electric to invest $274 mn in transformer output ramp-ups

HD Hyundai Electric Co., a South Korean electric power equipment maker, plans to invest about half of its 2024 operating profit, estimated at 720 bi...

Private equity Korea’s Hwasung Cosmetics shines with Affirma Capital’s Midas touch

Singapore-based private equity firm Affirma Capital has turned Hwasung Cosmetics into an emerging original design manufacturer (ODM) for global beau...

IPOs Korean entertainment powerhouse K Wave Media to debut on Nasdaq in Feb

K Wave Media Ltd., an umbrella entity of South Korean entertainment companies, is set to go public on the Nasdaq next month in a bid to raise money ...

Automobiles Hyundai Motor, Nvidia team up for AI development for future mobility

South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor Group said on Friday that it has teamed up with Nvidia Corp. to accelerate the development of advanc...

Economy Political crisis ups downside risk to S.Korea’s economy: S&P, Moody’s

Global credit rating agencies are warning of looming downward pressure on South Korea’s sovereign credit rating about a month after Asia&rsquo...

Automobiles Hyundai Motor vows record investment of $16.7 bn in South Korea

Hyundai Motor Group will invest 24.3 trillion won ($16.7 billion) this year in South Korea, the largest-ever annual investment in its home country, ...

Economy Foreign direct investments in Korea hit record $34.57 billion in 2024

Foreign direct investments in South Korea hit a record high in 2024, driven by Chinese and Japanese investors in the manufacturing sector, the Minis...

Foreign exchange South Korea’s forex reserves drop to 5-year low in 2024

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves shrank to a five-year low at the end of last year after the country’s foreign exchange authoriti...

Robotics Samsung joins humanoid robots race with larger stake in Rainbow Robotics

Samsung Electronics Co. has become the largest shareholder of Rainbow Robotics Co., a South Korean collaborative robot maker, as the tech giant spen...

Food & Beverage S.Korea's office cafeteria firms expand into overseas markets

South Korea's office cafeteria companies, including Hyundai Green Food Co., Ourhome, and Samsung Welstory plan to expand overseas markets with the p...