credit outlook

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...

Economy S&P reaffirms South Korea’s AA credit rating with stable outlook

S&P Global Ratings has reaffirmed South Korea’s sovereign credit rating at AA with a stable outlook, citing the country’s resilient ...

Earnings Samsung’s Q1 profit beats expectations; Q2 outlook murky on tariff war

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest memory chipmaker, posted stronger-than-expected first-quarter operating profit on Tuesday, booste...

Energy OCI to build $265 mn solar cell plant in Texas, expects $80 mn tax credit

South Korean solar cell company OCI Holdings Co. said on Thursday it will build a solar cell manufacturing plant in Texas through its US subsidiary ...

Private equity Red flags raised even before Homeplus crisis: Sales fall, credit ratings cut

Even before South Korea’s second-largest hypermarket chain Homeplus Co. was put under court receivership due to its worsening financial woes, ...

Pension funds NPS to buy stake in Australia’s Metrics to expand alternative investments

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS), the world’s third-largest pension fund, has agreed to buy a stake in Australian asset mana...

Electronics LG renames premium built-in appliance brand; Moody’s outlook up

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea’s top appliance maker, has rebranded its 10-year-old premium built-in kitchen appliance business to double do...

Private equity Glenwood Credit stresses role as reliable financial partner: CEO Lee

Many companies, big and small, sell or buy affiliated units to raise funds or narrow their focus during economic downturns, and to fund expansion or...

Banking & Finance Hana Financial, Bain Capital to expand investment in S.Korea

South Korean Hana Financial Group and the US-based global well-known private equity fund (PEF) Bain Capital plan to strengthen their strategic par...

Private debt Real estate debt outshines corporate credit: Savills IM

Private credit has been among the top picks for alternative investors over the past few years. During the period of high interest rates, corporate l...

Earnings LG Energy logs 1st quarterly loss in over 3 years, outlook remains gloomy

LG Energy Solution Ltd. reported its first quarterly loss in more than three years on Thursday, adding to concerns that the world’s third-larg...

Upcoming IPOs Rosy outlook for South Korean fintech IPOs in 2025

The South Korean fintech industry, which bloomed a decade ago, is poised to take the next step for the coming 10 years after prominent players began...

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...

Banking & Finance Lotte Card Card to launch loans for affiliates in Vietnam

South Korea's Lotte Card said on Monday it will launch loans for affiliates in Vietnam.Lotte Finance Vietnam, the Vietnamese corporation of Lotte Ca...

Business & Politics South Korea’s sovereign credit rating stable: S&P, Moody's, Fitch

South Korea’s sovereign ratings remain stable despite the political turmoil caused by the short-lived martial law declaration of President Yoo...

Energy Korea’s OCI, US partner CPS Energy sign 20-year energy storage deal

South Korean solar cell company OCI Holdings Co. said on Tuesday it has signed a deal with US power supplier CPS Energy to jointly build a 120-megaw...

Economy Korea’s credit fundamentals remain firm amid political crisis: Fitch

South Korea’s credit rating remained unscathed by the political turmoil caused by the short-lived martial law declaration of President Yoon Su...

Mergers & Acquisitions MBK kicks off Lotte Card sale for about $1.4 bn in 2nd bid

Lotte Card Co. is expected to be up for grabs in the first half of next year amid a second sale attempt by its largest shareholder MBK Partners, a N...

Central bank BOK to keep rate at 3.25% in Nov despite dim GDP outlook: survey

South Korea’s central bank is expected to freeze its policy rate at 3.25% during its last monetary policy meeting of the year to prevent any f...

Corporate bonds Korea Inc. rushes to booming local corporate bond market

South Korean companies are rushing to raise money in the local corporate bond market, which is unusually buoyant at year's end amid expectations of ...

Automobiles Hyundai, Kia gets triple A credit rating from S.Korean agencies

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. said on Monday they received AAA ratings, with Stable outlooks for both companies, from Korea Ratings Corp., Nice In...

Corporate bonds S&P upgrades SK Innovation credit rating to BBB-

Global credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) announced on Friday that it upgraded SK Innovation Co.'s long-term credit rating from a ...

Korean chipmakers SK Hynix shares nosedive after Morgan Stanley downgrade

The share price of SK Hynix Inc. plummeted as much as 11% at one point on Thursday after Morgan Stanley sharply cut its target price in an about-tur...

Economy Korea’s credit loans balloon as regulators cap mortgages

Credit loans are ballooning in South Korea as regulators tightened their grips on record-high mortgages to rein in the growth in household lend...

Corporate bonds POSCO Int'l wins first credit rating from S&P, Moody's

South Korea's POSCO International Corp. said on Thursday that it received its first-ever credit ratings from Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Moo...

Automobiles Hyundai Motor, Kia gets A- credit rating from S&P Global

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. said on Thursday that S&P Global upgraded their credit ratings from BBB+ to A-, with a Stable outlook for both c...

Banking & Finance Korea’s Woori Bank raises $550 mn in AT1 hybrid bond

South Korean major bank Woori Bank said on Thursday that it raised $550 million by issuing additional tier 1 (AT1) hybrid bonds on July 17 with call...

Earnings Samsung’s Q2 profit soars on AI chips; second-half outlook rosy

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. on Friday flagged a more than 15-fold increase in its second-quarter operating profit as the artific...

Korean startups Kakao supports startups with cloud services

Kakao Enterprise, an AI-based cloud solutions service subsidiary of South Korea's Kakao Corp., announced on Thursday that it started the Rocket La...

Short selling Korea slaps Credit Suisse with largest ever short-sale penalty

South Korea's financial regulator said on Wednesday it has officially imposed Credit Suisse Group AG and its affiliate a combined 27.2 billion won...