investors

Asset management Mirae Asset bets on China as Korean investors’ US focus draws concern

South Korea’s leading asset manager Mirae Asset Financial Group is increasingly unveiling China-focused investment products as Chairman P...

Shareholder activism Activist fund Oasis boosts Korea team amid investor-friendly policy shift

Hong Kong-based activist fund Oasis Management is ramping up hiring for its Korea team as Seoul’s push to boost corporate value and strengthen...

Mergers & Acquisitions LG Chem’s medical skincare business sale draws tepid bid

South Korean chemical giant LG Chem Ltd.'s offer for sale of its cosmetics filler business, tagged with an asking price of more than 500 billion won...

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 ...

Korean stock market NPS pours $3.9 bn to buttress Korean stock market

South Korea’s National Pension Service, the country’s largest institutional investor, has come to the rescue of the domestic stock marke...

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 ...

Korean stock market South Korean stocks, currency dive amid deeper US tariff turmoil

The South Korean stock market logged its biggest daily loss of more than 5% in eight months on Monday, joining its Asian peers bruised by panic sell...

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...

Asset management Strong momentum in non-US markets, digital real estate: Principal AM CEO

It is time to shift focus toward non-US markets after years of stellar performance of US assets driven by the robust world’s No. 1 economy, sa...

Steel Hyundai Steel picks Donaldsonville as $5.8 bn US plant site, seeks investors

South Korea’s Hyundai Steel Co. has chosen Donaldsonville, Louisiana, as the location for its $5.8 billion US steel mill, marking a major stra...

Pension funds CPPIB invests in Seoul office building for rental housing conversion

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and South Korean property developer MGRV have jointly acquired the headquarters of a domestic women...

Cryptocurrencies BlackRock sees digital assets at critical turning point

Digital assets are poised for robust structural growth – not just as investment vehicles but as strategic assets – fueled by growing ins...

Banking & Finance Hana Financial CEO set for reappointment with foreign investor backing

More than half of the foreign shareholders in Hana Financial Group have thrown their support behind Chief Executive Ham Young-joo for a second term,...

Mergers & Acquisitions JPMorgan, Jefferies picked to manage TaylorMade Golf sale

Centroid Investment Partners, a Seoul-based private equity firm, has selected JPMorgan and Jefferies as lead managers for the sale of TaylorMade Gol...

Venture capital South Korean VCs back US humanoid robot developer Apptronik

South Korean venture capital firms invested undisclosed tens of billions of won, equivalent to tens of millions of dollars, in US humanoid-developin...

Sovereign bonds S.Korea courts active funds for $140 bn treasury issuance

South Korea’s finance ministry will hold its largest-ever investor relations (IR) event for global institutional investors at the end of this ...

Real estate BNK's planned acquisition of Hyundai Motor Securities building falters

BNK Asset Management Co.'s bid to acquire the Hyundai Motor Securities building in central Seoul has hit a stumbling block as the main tenant, Hyund...

Pension funds South Korea’s pension fund NPS risks massive loss from Homeplus fiasco

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS), the nation’s biggest institutional investor, could lose more than 1 trillion won ($692 mil...

Real estate Korea’s IGIS Asset puts top Seoul tourist area hotel on market

IGIS Asset Management Co., one of Asia's largest real estate investment firms, is set to sell a four-star hotel in Myeong-dong, a popular spot for f...

Real estate European student housing is top of the class: Savills IM

The appeal of European purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) to real estate investors is growing rapidly. In the recent 2025 INREV Investor Int...

Markets Mirae Asset launches world’s 1st passive target-date ETF

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. is set to introduce the world’s first passive target-date exchange-traded fund (ETF) this month to attract ...

Alternative investments Korea Investment & Securities explores new products with global firms

Korea Investment & Securities Co. (KIS), a unit of Korea Investment Holdings Inc., is exploring new global investment products tailored for Sout...

Alternative investments S.Korean investors name their 33 favorite alternative asset managers

Blackstone and HarbourVest Partners are South Korean institutional investors’ preferred private equity firms, according to a survey by Korea I...

Electronics LG Electronics deepens ties with US startup Apex.AI

LG Electronics Inc. has invested in Apex.AI, a US-based startup developing safety-certified software designed to accelerate the transition of softwa...

Sovereign bonds Foreigners return to Korean debt market; Korea on course to join WGBI

Foreigners scooped up South Korean government bonds in January despite the country’s ongoing political upheavals, betting big on the country&r...

Cryptocurrencies Korean investors abandon savings, stocks for cryptocurrencies

Money is rapidly shifting to cryptocurrency markets in South Korea as lower interest rates and lackluster stock prices reduce the investment appeal ...

Mergers & Acquisitions S.Korea’s bagel sensation London Bagel Museum attracts multiple foreign investors

London Bagel Museum, which has ignited a bagel fad in South Korea, has drawn strong interest from multiple investors from abroad for its stake sale ...

Korean stock market Alternative stock exchange Nextrade to launch on March 4

Nextrade, South Korea’s first alternative stock exchange, enabling trading of stocks listed on the Kospi and the Kosdaq for 12 hours a day is ...

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...

Regulations South Korea allows foreigners to trade treasuries via omnibus accounts

South Korea will allow foreign investors to trade South Korean treasury bonds via omnibus accounts under the names of global custodians or asset man...