profitability-oriented selective ordering

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...

Pension funds NPS yet to schedule external manager selection; PE firms’ fundraising woes deepen

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS), the world’s third-largest pension fund, has yet to decide on a plan to select local extern...

Shipping & Shipbuilding HD KSOE secures $1.8 bn in container ship orders

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) secured orders for 22 container ships worth a total of 2.54 trillion won ($1.8 billion) ...

Bio & Pharma Samsung Biologics bags $514 mn CMO contract from US pharma

Samsung Biologics Co., the world’s largest contract manufacturing organization (CMO), said on Monday it has secured a $5.14 million order from...

Earnings KB Financial logs 61% profit growth, rebounding from ELS fiasco

KB Financial Group Inc. on Thursday reported a 61% jump in first-quarter profit, led by a nearly threefold rise in earnings at its flagship unit Koo...

Earnings SK Hynix’s Q1 profit soars on HBM chips, beats Samsung’s overall earnings

SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, reported a dramatic surge in first-quarter profits on Thursday, delivering the sec...

Travel & Leisure Korean hotels bask in rising foreign visitors; travel agencies in trouble

Hotels in South Korea are booming thanks to a surge in foreign visitors on a weaker won currency, while domestic travel agencies are suffering from ...

Aerospace & Defense South Korean defense industry thriving on strong overseas demand

The South Korean defense industry's current heyday is expected to continue for a while as global demand for Korean-made weapons and combat systems h...

Asset management Stay liquid, be selective, look outside US tech, says TCW CEO

Global financial markets are facing rising volatility and uncertainty this year as the US stock market rally led by Big Tech is losing steam amid co...

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...

Electronics Samsung unveils upgraded AI-powered OLED TVs

Samsung Electronics Co. on Monday showcased its new lineup of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs with advanced artificial intelligence features...

Shipping & Shipbuilding HD Hyundai on course for $1.55 bn order amid US-China trade war

HD Hyundai Co., the world’s largest shipbuilding group, is emerging as a key beneficiary of the Trump administration’s tariff policies a...

Real estate Deloitte Anjin to lead sale of Four Points by Sheraton Josun, Myeongdong

IGIS Asset Management Co., a leading South Korean real estate investment firm, has chosen Deloitte Anjin LLC as its lead manager to sell Four Points...

Korean chipmakers SK Hynix aims to lock in all 2026 HBM orders by mid-2025

SK Hynix Inc., the world’s largest supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), aims to lock in orders for its entire 2026 HBM output by the end o...

Batteries LG Energy bags 1-GWh ESS battery deal from Poland’s PGE

LG Energy Solution Ltd. will supply 1 gigawatt-hour of energy storage system (ESS) batteries to a state-owned utility company in Poland in a deal ex...

Banking & Finance Hana Asset Management to merge with Hana Alternative Asset

Hana Financial Group, the parent of Hana Bank and Hana Securities Co, will merge its two asset management arms to bolster its non-banking services, ...

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,...

Shipping & Shipbuilding Hanwha wins $1.6 billion order to build 6 container ships for Evergreen

Hanwha Ocean Co., a leading South Korean shipbuilder, said on Monday it has won a 2.33 trillion won ($1.61 billion) order to build six eco-friendly,...

Pension funds KB, Samsung SRA, Capstone named NPS’ core property fund operators

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) has selected three asset managers to oversee its domestic core real estate platform fund — ...

Energy Doosan Enerbility wins $1.5 bn in orders from Saudi Arabia

Doosan Enerbility Co., South Korea’s leading gas turbine maunfacturer for power plants, said on Thursday that it has secured a combined $1.5 b...

Automobiles Kia’s Chinese operations turn to profit after 8 years; Export strategy pays off

South Korea’s No. 2 automaker Kia Corp. saw its Chinese operations turn profitable in 2024 for the first time in eight years as brisk exports ...

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...

Earnings Coupang posts profit for 2 straight years in 2024 on new growth drivers

Coupang Inc., South Korea’s answer to global e-commerce giant Amazon.com, ended last year with profit for the second straight year thanks to t...

Cryptocurrencies Dunamu slapped with 3-month business suspension order

Dunamu Inc., the operator of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, has been hit with a three-month partial business suspension ...

Earnings Meritz cheers record profit in 2024, boasts top 3 market cap

Meritz Financial Group Inc. has reported its best-ever net profit for last year thanks to handsome gains from investments by its insurance and secur...

Aerospace & Defense S.Korea’s defense order backlog reaches record $73.1 billion at end-2024

South Korea’s seven major defense companies saw their combined order backlog reach a record 105.6 trillion won ($73.1 billion) at the end of 2...

Electronics Hanmi Semiconductor to retire $90 mn treasury shares in May

Hanmi Semiconductor Co. on Thursday announced a plan to retire 130.0 billion won ($90 million) worth of treasury shares in May, marking its largest-...

Pension funds Korea to let securities firms manage $43 bn public fund investment pool

South Korea said on Wednesday it aims to boost returns on 62.1 billion won ($42.7 billion) in the public fund investment pool by entrusting some of ...

Shipping & Shipbuilding HD KSOE bags $371 mn LNG bunker ship order

The outlook for South Korean shipbuilders’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering ship construction looks bright as the global LNG-powered ship...