Valuation gains

Entertainment Korean entertainment stocks advance, unfazed by US tariff concerns

South Korean entertainment and gaming stocks climbed on Friday, defying a broader market drop as investors sought refuge in sectors seen as immune t...

Pension funds S.Korea’s pension fund NPS posts record return in 2024 on US stock rally

The National Pension Service (NPS), South Korea’s state-run pension fund and the country’s largest institutional investor, said on ...

Sovereign wealth funds S.Korea’s sovereign fund KIC logs 8.5% return in 2024

The Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) reported an annual return of 8.49% last year thanks to steady gains from equity investments led by the AI tec...

Corporate bonds One-third of Korean petrochem bonds incur valuation losses

South Korean institutional investors, including banks, insurers and securities companies, have yet to fully benefit from recent declines in bond yie...

Economy Korean exports snap 15 months of gains in Jan despite higher chip sales

South Korea’s exports dropped in January on-year for the first time in 16 months due to more holiday days in the month, although overseas sale...

Upcoming IPOs Seoul Guarantee Insurance sharply cuts IPO valuation

Seoul Guarantee Insurance Co. (SGI) has slashed its target valuation by about 40% in a renewed attempt to go public on the South Korean stock exchan...

Korean chipmakers SK Hynix sharply narrows gap with Samsung’s market cap

SK Hynix Inc. has significantly raised its value by bolstering its presence in the artificial intelligence memory market, threatening Samsung Electr...

Beauty & Cosmetics Sales of K-Beauty surges in US e-commerce

The popularity of South Korean cosmetics in the US has increased, with sales of the products growing at four to five times the rate of the market ...

Automobiles Hankook Tire gains edge over Chinese rivals under Trump tariffs

CLARKSVILLE, Tennessee -- Early this month at the Hankook Tire plant in Clarksville, construction workers were installing the steel framework of its...

Mergers & Acquisitions Corstone, Q Capital in talks with foreign investors to sell K-chicken chain

Seoul-based private equity firms Corstone Asia and Q Capital Partners are in talks with foreign investors to sell a South Korean fried chicken chain...

Korean stock market Kospi to move in 2,350-3,200 range in 2025: brokerages

South Korean stocks are expected to bounce back in the new year as their extremely low valuation following investors’ massive sell-offs in 202...

Upcoming IPOs Online lender K Bank eyes Feb 2025 IPO at lower valuation

K Bank, a South Korean online lender, is making a fresh attempt to list on the Korean stock market in February 2025 as bitcoin’s record-breaki...

Pension funds NPS to invest record $1.4 billion in Korean property market in 2025

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) plans to invest 2 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in the domestic real estate market next year to gai...

Foreign exchange Korean won seen rebounding after Yoon’s impeachment

The South Korean won is expected to stage a rebound from its two-year low against the US dollar and hold steady in 2025 after the impeachment of Sou...

Construction Hanwha E&C to resume $10.4 billion Bismayah new city project in Iraq

Hanwha Engineering & Construction Co., an affiliate of South Korea’s Hanwha Group, said on Friday it is set to fully resume a $10.4 billio...

Foreign exchange NPS incurs $500 million in missed gains due to improper forex hedging

The National Pension Service (NPS), South Korea’s state-run pension fund and the country’s largest institutional investor, has likely in...

Retail US warehouse giant Costco outperforms peers in S.Korea

Membership fees couldn't keep cost-conscious South Korean consumers from rushing to Costco stores to buy big-box items at lower prices, leading the ...

Korean startups Panmnesia raises $57 mn in Series A funding

Panmnesia, a South Korean fabless startup specializing in compute express link (CXL) technology, said on Tuesday it raised 80 billion won ($57 milli...

Aerospace & Defense Alux's export contracts with US, Japan top $5 million

South Korean drone maker Alux Co. said on Monday its cumulative export contracts with the US and Japan have surpassed 7 billion won ($5 million). Th...

Real estate NH Nonghyup buys Donuimun D Tower for $640 mn

NH Nonghyup REITs Management Co. has completed the purchase of Donuimun D Tower, a prime office building in central Seoul, for 895.3 billion won ($6...

Artificial intelligence S.Korean AI content platform Zeta surpasses 1 mn users

South Korean generative artificial intelligence (AI) startup Scatter Lab said on Monday its interactive AI content platform Zeta has surpassed 1 mil...

Bio & Pharma Celltrion to establish CDMO subsidiary

Celltrion Inc., South Korea’s largest biosimilar maker, said on Friday it plans to establish a contract development and manufacturing organiza...

Business & Politics S.Korean defense firms stand to gain if Harris wins Nov. election

Defense companies will stand to gain the most among South Korean companies if US Vice President Kamala Harris wins the US presidential election next...

Central bank S.Korea’s inflation dips below 2% for 1st time in 42 months

South Korea’s headline inflation slowed below 2% for the first time in three and a half years in September on lower international oil prices, ...

Batteries LG Energy Solution’s battery management business gains traction

LG Energy Solution Ltd. has kicked off a battery management total solution (BMTS) business to offer automakers more advanced and comprehensive batte...

Korean stock market South Korea Can Go Only So Far Copying Japan’s Market Reforms

South Korea is taking a page from Japan to boost its stock market. There are certainly some low-hanging fruits to pick, but the country’s larg...

Korean chipmakers SK Hynix’s CXL optimization software tool installed on Linux

SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker after Samsung Electronics Co., said on Monday the key features of its computer expr...

IPOs Online lender K Bank aims for IPO at $4 bn valuation in Q4

Kbank, a South Korean online bank, is preparing to list on the main bourse Kospi at an estimated value of up to 5 trillion won ($3.8 billion) in the...

Private equity MBK Partners’ sale of Homeplus Express hits snag over valuation gap

MBK Partners’ planned sale of Homeplus Express, the supermarket chain of South Korean hypermarket operator Homeplus, has hit a snag as potenti...

Mergers & Acquisitions SK Innovation-SK E&S merger gains shareholders’ nod

SK Innovation Co., South Korea’s largest energy company, has won majority support from its shareholders for a merger with its liquefied natura...