Korea’s top four financial holding firms post stellar Q2 profit on won, non-interest gains

South Korea’s four largest financial holding groups posted stellar profits in the second quarter, bolstered by a sharp increase in non-interes...

Kakao, Naver step up global AI hunt amid fierce tech race

South Korea’s internet pioneers, Kakao Corp. and Naver Corp., are ramping up overseas investments in artificial intelligence startups, shiftin...

Jennie, J-Hope, Jin sweep Spotify’s global K-pop rankings for mid-2025

K-pop icons Jennie of Blackpink and BTS members Jin and J-Hope have taken over Spotify’s mid-year 2025 Global Impact List, claiming the majori...

K-beauty brands shine among Amazon’s 2025 Prime Day bestsellers

Cosmetics and beauty devices made by South Korean companies dominated Amazon’s biggest summer shopping event this year, Prime Day, underscorin...

IMM PE pitches A’pieu sale in breakup of struggling Able C&C

IMM Private Equity Inc. is pursuing a separate sale of A’pieu, a color makeup brand under Able C&C Co., as the Seoul-based private equity ...

Hanwha Ocean wins $1.4 bn order from Yang Ming to build 7 containerships

Hanwha Ocean Co., South Korea’s third-largest shipbuilder, has bagged an order to build seven containerships, valued at about 2 trillion won (...

K-content reign continues as Squid Game returns in force

Korean content swept across 93 countries on Netflix in the first half of this year, captivating global audiences with a wider range of genres from d...

Test case looms for Korea’s revised Commercial Act as VIP Asset challenges Lotte Rental’s rights issue to Affinity

Lotte Rental Co., South Korea’s No. 1 car rental and leasing company, is facing a backlash from a key minority shareholder over its planned ri...

Samsung supplies newest nanoprism image sensors to Xiaomi to crack Sony’s lead

Samsung Electronics Co. is supplying a new high-performance image sensor featuring nanoprism technology to China’s Xiaomi, as the South Korean...

Korea’s game studios rebrand as AI tech firms, move into fashion, robotics, media

What was once a world of elves, dragons and power-ups is now giving rise to one of South Korea’s most unexpected tech revolutions, with game s...

IMM Credit closes $700 mn blind credit fund backed by NPS

IMM Credit & Solutions Inc. (ICS), the private credit unit of South Korea’s major investment firm IMM Holdings Inc., has raised nearly 1 t...

Hahn & Co. to award bonus shares to Namyang staff, retires $7.1 mn in shares

Seoul-based private equity firm Hahn & Co. will award employees of Namyang Dairy Products Co., a South Korean dairy product producer, 1.6 billio...

Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman courts Korean AI startups as Riyadh, Abu Dhabi vie to build tech hubs

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the Middle East was a land of opportunity for many South Korean construction workers, who labored there under the scorc...

Samsung to buy US health tech firm Xealth in digital health push

Samsung Electronics Co. will acquire Xealth, a US-based healthcare platform provider, as it steps up efforts to foster non-semiconductor businesses ...

Korean waste management firm Koentec put on market for $730 mn

Korea Environment Technology Co. (Koentec) is up for sale in a deal that could fetch up to 1 trillion won ($730.4 million) with global private equit...

Taekwang, Anchor Equity shortlisted for Aekyung stake

Taekwang Industrial Co., a South Korean chemical and textile company, and Anchor Equity Partners, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, have emerge...

Goldman Sachs acquires Mercure Ambassador: 1st stint with Korean hotels

Goldman Sachs, in partnership with JB Asset Management Co., has acquired Mercure Ambassador Seoul Hongdae, a prominent mixed-use commercial property...

Affinity Equity nets $220 mn from block sale of Shinhan Financial

Affinity Equity Partners has unloaded its remaining shares in Shinhan Financial Group, the second largest banking group in South Korea, for about 58...

Hana Asset launches ultra-low-fee Nasdaq 100 ETF

Hana Asset Management Co. will list the “1Q US Nasdaq 100 ETF” on Tuesday, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the Nasdaq 100 index with...

Loss-making Lotte Chemical to sell water treatment unit to Synopex

Lotte Chemical Corp., South Korea’s second-largest petrochemical company grappling with mounting losses amid a prolonged industry downturn, wi...

Google to invest $100 mn in Gentle Monster in smart glasses push

Google LLC has signed an agreement to invest about 145.0 billion won ($100 million) in Gentle Monster, the South Korean fashion eyewear brand that i...

KakaoBank rallies after winning Thai virtual banking license

Shares in KakaoBank Corp. soared as much as 17% to hit their highest level in nearly three years on Friday after the South Korean internet-only bank...

Affirma Capital to acquire Equis’ Korean waste assets for $294 million

Affirma Capital, a Singapore-headquartered buyout private equity firm, has agreed to acquire the entire portfolio of South Korean waste processing a...

LG CNS forms strategic partnership with robotics startup Skild AI

LG CNS Co., the information technology service arm of LG Group, said on Tuesday it has formed a strategic partnership with Skild AI to develop AI-dr...

CJ CGV under pressure to shed China, Vietnam cinema assets

MBK Partners and Mirae Asset Securities Co. are considering divesting of their holdings in CGI Holdings Co., which oversees CJ CGV Co.’s multi...

Partners Group sees infrastructure secondaries quadrupling to $60 bn

Infrastructure secondaries are gaining momentum as the infrastructure sector attracts investors seeking stable and predictable returns amid heighten...

S.Korea’s No.1 dried seaweed firm Kwangcheonkim on market for $295 mn

Kwangcheonkim Co., South Korea’s largest seaweed producer with a history spanning over 50 years, is up for grabs in a deal that could fetch up...

Lotte Chemical, HD Hyundai seek to combine naphtha cracking facilities

Lotte Chemical Corp. and HD Hyundai Co. are in talks to consolidate their naphtha cracking operations in South Korea’s Daesan petrochemical co...

Markets in honeymoon with Lee: Kospi, won rally; bond yields spike

South Korea’s financial markets showed strong gains on Thursday, with shares surging to an 11-month high and the won hitting a seven-month hig...

Korea signs definitive $19 bn Czech nuclear plant deal after twists and turns

South Korea has secured its most significant nuclear export deal in over a decade, as a consortium led by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) cli...