Kakao M

Mergers & Acquisitions Mubadala, Goldman Sachs to invest $700 mn in Kakao Mobility

United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. and Goldman Sachs are set to invest a combined $700 million in Kakao Mobil...

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...

Corporate strategy KT&G eyes overseas M&A after rejecting activist fund's offer

KT&G Corp., South Korea’s dominant tobacco and ginseng producer, is seeking to acquire a Japanese ginseng company after dismissing a 1.9-t...

Markets Kakao shares sink on SK Telecom’s stake sell-off news

Kakao Corp. shares underperformed its peers and the broad market on Friday after SK Telecom Co. sold off its entire stake in the South Korean platfo...

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...

Corporate strategy Dongwon Industries to delist wholly owned Dongwon F&B

Dongwon Industries Co., the holding company of South Korea’s seafood-to-logistics Dongwon Group, will delist its canned tuna-manufacturing sub...

Entertainment Kakao Entertainment scraps IPO, seeks new buyer

Kakao Corp., South Korea’s largest mobile platform, is looking to sell a majority stake in Kakao Entertainment Corp., dropping a plan to take ...

Entertainment Kakao Entertainment sheds loss-making units, revives IPO prospects

Kakao Entertainment Corp. has been divesting unprofitable music labels and digital content platforms, which it has gobbled up over the past few year...

IPOs LG Electronics set for early-May Indian stock market debut

LG Electronics Inc. is set to list its wholly owned subsidiary in India on the country's stock exchange in early May, aiming to raise up to $1.5 bil...

Korean games Krafton buys India’s Nautilus Mobile, fueling IP race in Korean game scene

Krafton Inc., one of South Korea’s top four market-cap gaming firms, has taken over Indian game developer Nautilus Mobile for $14 million, upp...

Mergers & Acquisitions VIG taps KDB financing to buy 40% stake in Kakao Mobility

South Korea’s private equity firm VIG Partners’ buyout of minority stakes in Kakao Mobility Corp., the nation’s most popular taxi-...

Korean chipmakers Samsung to expand in robotics, medtech; eyes sizeable M&As

Samsung Electronics Co. will accelerate its push into robotics, medical technology and next-generation semiconductor markets to secure new growth dr...

Pension funds Korea’s pension fund NPS rules out investing in MBK’s hostile M&A deals

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) said on Monday it will not participate in investments related to hostile mergers and acquisitions...

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 ...

Private equity Affinity, GIC sell out of Kyobo Life; Chairman Shin seeks holding firm, M&A

Affinity Equity Partners and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC have sold their entire stake in Kyobo Life Insurance Co., exiting from thei...

Mergers & Acquisitions Shin & Kim’s Jeong Hae Sung named Korea’s most influential M&A lawyer

Jeong Hae Sung, a partner at Shin & Kim, topped the list of South Korea’s 10 most influential M&A lawyers after advising on a total of...

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...

Leadership & Management Samsung set to rebuild with leader Lee cleared of all charges

Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong was found not guilty of accounting fraud, stock manipulation and other criminal charges by a Seoul app...

Artificial intelligence Kakao set to announce AI partnership with OpenAI

Kakao Corp., South Korea’s dominant mobile platform, is expected to unveil a business partnership with OpenAI to incorporate the technology of...

League table Korean law firms' 2024 revenue soars on M&As, management disputes

South Korea’s major law firms saw rapid growth in revenue last year as the economic slowdown sparked business overhauls at top conglomerates, ...

IPOs Korean B2B fintech firm Dozn plans Kosdaq IPO for $202.5 mn market cap

South Korea’s business-to-business fintech service provider Dozn is planning an initial public offering on the Kosdaq in February for an estim...

Mergers & Acquisitions PCB maker Isupetasys cancels M&A with carbon nanotube producer

South Korean printed circuit board (PCB) maker Isupetasys Co. has withdrawn a 300-billion-won ($210 million) deal to buy Jeio Co., one of the countr...

Mergers & Acquisitions SK, Lotte's restructuring to drive Korea's M&A market in 2025

SK and Lotte groups remain the focus for South Korean dealmakers as the two conglomerates accelerate restructuring by divesting non-core assets, a s...

Webtoons Piccoma tops consumer spending ranking in Japan

Kakao Piccoma, a Japanese digital comics app subsidiary of South Korean mobile giant Kakao Corp., topped the consumer spending ranking in the Japane...

IPOs Celltrion seeks large-scale M&A in Q4, eyes 2027 Nasdaq debut

SAN FRANCISCO – South Korea’s leading biosimilar drug developer Celltrion Inc. seeks to acquire a domestic health food maker as early as...

Korean startups Korean startup M&As halve in 2024 with smaller deals

Mergers and acquisitions of South Korean startups halved in value in 2024 as conglomerates and Big Tech firms such as Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. sn...

Petrochemicals Korea to ease rules for petrochem industry M&As, plant closures

South Korea will ease regulations and offer incentives to facilitate the restructuring of domestic petrochemical makers battling a global suppl...

Mergers & Acquisitions M&A deals in South Korea hit 7-year low in 2024

South Korea’s mergers and acquisitions market shrank further in 2024, with leading business groups seeking to unload non-core assets to bolste...

Steel POSCO Future M develops technology to make electrode rods

POSCO Future M Co., a battery material and steel manufacturing equipment supplier, said on Thursday it has developed electrode rod manufacturing tec...