Deals

Mergers & Acquisitions
Korea's largest job portal JobKorea up for sale
South Korea-based private equity firm H&Q has begun the sale process for JobKorea, the country's largest job portal estimated to be worth up to $700 million.Its sales advisor Morgan Stanley recently launched marketing efforts ahead of issuing an
Nov 04, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Korean fried chicken brand draws over 1,000 investors in bookbuilding
Kyochon F&B, South Korea’s No. 1 fried chicken franchise operator, wrapped up a successful bookbuilding for institutional investors with bid...
Nov 02, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Samyang joins bid to acquire US-based chemical maker Emerald Kalama
Samyang Holdings Corporation, a South Korean manufacturer of food and chemical products, has joined the bid to acquire US-based Emerald Kalama Chemica...
Nov 01, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Subordinated bond issues
Kookmin Bank sells $500 mn in subordinated bonds to fund ESG projects
South Korea’s Kookmin Bank has issued $500 million in subordinated bonds as part of its efforts to expand loans for environmental, social and go...
Oct 29, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Virtual reality
Korean VR startup acquired by Fortnite creator
Hyprsense, a facial motion capture software developer, has been acquired by Epic Games, the creator of international blockbuster game Fortnite, accord...
Oct 29, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Lotte Rental shelves share sale plan as IPO market cools
Lotte Group has indefinitely postponed its plan to list Lotte Rental Co., in the latest sign of a cooldown in the local initial public offering market...
Oct 28, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Pre-IPOs
IMM, four other local PEFs shortlisted for CJ Olive Young pre-IPO
IMM Private Equity and four other South Korean private equity firms have been shortlisted for health and beauty franchise CJ Olive Young’s pre-i...
Oct 28, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Pre-IPOs
TPG to invest $222 mn in mobile banking app KakaoBank
TPG will acquire a 2.7% stake in South Korea’s mobile banking app KakaoBank for 250 billion won ($222 million) ahead of an initial public offeri...
Oct 27, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Bond issues
Kakao's exchangeable bond issue lures global investors
South Korea’s mobile platform giant Kakao Corp. is raising the price of shares to be converted from its exchangeable bond issue in Singapore on ...
Oct 22, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Doosan Infracore
GS E&C challenges Hyundai Heavy in Doosan deal
GS Engineering & Construction Co. (GS E&C) has joined the bidding for a stake in Doosan Infracore Co. after the bid submission deadline, a mov...
Oct 22, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Hydrogen tank supplier to Hyundai prepares for 2021 IPO
Iljin Composites Corp., the only South Korean manufacturer of composite fuel tanks, is set to mandate Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. and Samsung Securities Co...
Oct 22, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Firms vie to become Krafton's $883 mn IPO manager
A competitive lineup of securities firms gathered at game developer Krafton Inc.'s office building in Pangyo, Gyeonggi province on Oct. 21 to pitch fo...
Oct 21, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Leveraged buyout
Korean M&A industry may reconsider leveraged buyouts
South Korea’s M&A market may reconsider leveraged buyouts due to the Supreme Court’s remanding of the case involving Sun Jong-koo, the...
Oct 20, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean chipmakers
SK Hynix to buy Intel’s NAND business in $9 bn cash deal
SK Hynix Inc. has signed a 10.3 trillion won ($9 billion) all-cash deal to buy Intel Corp.’s NAND memory chip business that will propel the Sout...
Oct 20, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Coffee Bean Korea seeks 100% stake sell-off
South Korea’s popular coffee house Coffee Bean Korea Co. is seeking to sell a 100% stake in the company held by Chief Executive Officer Park San...
Oct 19, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Waste management
KKR buys $386 mn stake in Korean sewage disposal firm
KKR & Co. has purchased a combined 440.8 billion won ($386 million) worth of shares in TSK Corp., a leading South Korean sewage and wastewater tre...
Oct 19, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Korean IPOs lose steam as Big Hit shares plummet
Big Hit Entertainment Co., the South Korean entertainment agency behind global sensation BTS, saw its shares drop by as much as 22% on Oct.16, the sec...
Oct 16, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Pre-IPOs
Korea's beauty chain pre-IPO attracts PEFs
South Korea's largest health and beauty franchise CJ Olive Young has received preliminary bids from around seven participants including global and dom...
Oct 15, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Private equity exit
IMM PE seeks to exit Korean power cable maker
IMM Private Equity has put a majority stake in South Korea’s Taihan Electric Wire Co. up for sale to exit its investment of close to $300 mill...
Oct 15, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
BTS label Big Hit trims gains after strong debut
Big Hit Entertainment Co., the label behind K-pop boyband sensation BTS, nearly halved its initial gains by the close of its first day of trading Oct....
Oct 15, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
BTS may be allowed to delay military service to age 30
South Korea is likely to allow the seven members of boy band BTS to postpone their mandatory national military service by two years until the age of 3...
Oct 13, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mobile games
Korean mobile game developer buys out German rival
South Korean mobile game developer Com2uS Corp. has acquired a German gaming rival in its first cross-over buyout, in a move to bolster its sports gam...
Oct 12, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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M&As
CJ Logistics, NPS eye sell-off of Chinese logistics unit
South Korea’s leading logistics firm CJ Logistics Corp. and the National Pension Service have reached out to logistics companies and global priv...
Oct 08, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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M&As
CJ Logistics, NPS eyeing to sell Chinese logistics unit
South Korea’s leading logistics firm CJ Logistics Corp. and the National Pension Service have reached out to logistics companies and global priv...
Oct 08, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
BTS members eye $21 mn windfall each from agency’s IPO
The seven members of the global boy band BTS may see their shares in Bit Hit Entertainment Co. rocket to as high as 24 billion won ($21 million) each ...
Oct 07, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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M&As
Hyundai Heavy, and five other Korean groups shortlisted for Doosan Infracore deal
Doosan Group has shortlisted six bidders, including Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co., and four local private equity groups, to acquire a controll...
Oct 07, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Big Hit scores second-highest IPO subscription ever at $50.4 bn
Big Hit Entertainment Co., the label behind global boy band sensation BTS, pulled in 58.4 trillion won ($50.4 billion) with shares oversubscribed by 6...
Oct 06, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean brokerage firms sitting on $7 bn in overseas properties yet to sell down
South Korean brokerage firms, having scooped up $20 billion worth of overseas real estate deals over the past three years, are now saddled with $7 bil...
Oct 06, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Korea’s biggest fried chicken brand aims to raise up to $61 mn in Nov. IPO
Kyochon F&B, South Korea’s No. 1 fried chicken franchise operator, plans to raise up to 71.3 billion won ($61 million) in an initial public ...
Oct 05, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
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League table
Credit Suisse lead-manages Doosan Group’s restructuring deals
Credit Suisse handled three restructuring deals worth a combined 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) for South Korea’s Doosan Group and 1.5 trillion w...
Oct 05, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read
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