IMM joins $600 mn fund for K-beauty unicorn Goodai Global in M&A drive

IMM Private Equity and five other South Korean private equity firms are set to invest a total of 800 billion won ($600 million) in Goodai Global Inc...

President Lee meets with Samsung chief amid stalled US-Korea trade talks

South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung met with Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Thursday amid growing speculation that Seoul may leve...

CJ ENM sets up Korea’s 1st Middle East entertainment unit in Saudi Arabia

CJ ENM Co., South Korea’s largest film studio and distributor, has established a subsidiary in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – the first Middle E...

GM CEO Mary Barra quells Korea exit talk amid mounting auto tariff pressures

US auto giant General Motors Co. is regarding its South Korean factories as central to its global supply chain, particularly for compact SUVs and el...

LG launches ChatExaone AI beta service, available soon for enterprise use

South Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate LG Group has made its artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatExaone, available to external users, sign...

Olive Young, a must-stop for foreign visitors to South Korea

For many foreign visitors to South Korea, a trip to the beauty retailer Olive Young is as essential as sampling kimchi or touring Gyeongbokgung Pala...

South Korea, US to resume trade talks ahead of tariff deadline

South Korea’s finance minister will discuss tariff issues with his US counterpart in Washington this week, marking the first trade talks under...

TPG’s sale of cosmetics packaging specialist Samhwa to KKR: A textbook turnaround story

Global private equity firm TPG has struck one of this year’s standout mid-cap deals in South Korea, selling Samhwa Co., a cosmetics packaging ...

Pebblestone, Pacific, Hanwha Asset, Hyundai Investments shortlisted for NPS’ $360 mn property fund mandate

The National Pension Service (NPS), South Korea’s state-run pension fund and the country’s largest institutional investor, has shortlist...

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...

Korean budget carriers in the red as Japan travel slows, fare war intensifies

South Korea’s low-cost carriers (LCCs) are racking up losses as slowing growth in travel, particularly to Japan, fueled price wars to fill exc...

Glass Skin boom: Why Seoul’s interactive beauty clinics are hottest stop for foreign tourists

On a recent morning in Seoul’s hip Seongsu neighborhood, a line of eager foreign tourists snaked around the corner of CJ Olive Young Corp.&rsq...

Blackpink’s Jump tops Spotify Global Chart, sets K-Pop record

With their latest digital single Jump, Blackpink has become the first – and so far only – South Korean act to top Spotify’s Global...

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 ...

Korea Investment & Securities, UBP seek private banking partnership

Korea Investment & Securities Co. (KIS), a unit of Korea Investment Holdings Co., said on Thursday it has discussed a strategic partnership with...

Maru SF to open in Silicon Valley in November as Korean startup gateway

Maru SF, a startup campus and networking hub operated by the Asan Nanum Foundation, will open in Silicon Valley this November, marking the organizat...

Hanwha-owned burger chain Five Guys Korea up for sale two years after launch

South Korea’s Hanwha Group is seeking to sell the Korean operations of US premium burger chain Five Guys, two years after the brand’s hi...

Vietnam’s top leader to make 1st South Korea visit in 11 years

To Lam, general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party and the country’s de facto ruling leader, is expected to make a state visit to So...

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...

At home, K-convenience stores battle stagnation; abroad they're powerful K-food ambassadors

In the bustling backstreets of Ulaanbaatar, shoppers file out of a CU convenience store with instant tteokbokki, or simmered Korean rice cake, packs...

Deal graveyard: S.Korean F&B franchise sales left without takers

Korean food is making waves globally, but back home, the story is different for food and beverage franchise operators. Franchisors in South Korea ar...

K-beauty craze sends Olive Young online sales to new heights

CJ Olive Young Corp., South Korea’s top beauty store chain, is another beneficiary of the global K-beauty surge, with its online cosmetics sal...

LG links up with Chinese rivals for budget appliance supremacy

LG Electronics Inc. has turned its rivals into allies in an unlikely pact to win the budget appliance war and ward off Chinese competitors rapidly e...

POSCO to supply HIC-resistant steel for Aramco’s Fadhili gas plant

POSCO, South Korea’s largest steelmaker, will supply hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC)-resistant steel to Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Aramco, for ...

South Korean airlines bank on China routes for profit recovery

South Korean airlines are ramping up international routes, particularly to China, Japan and Southeast Asian countries, in a bid to boost profitabili...

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...

Cohen & Steers names Andrew Shin to lead S.Korea institutional business

US-based investment firm Cohen & Steers Inc. has appointed Andrew Shin, a 20-year veteran of the institutional investment market, as vice presid...

POSCO sells Chinese stainless steel JV to Chinese rival for $300 mn

POSCO, South Korea’s largest steelmaker, has sold Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel (PZSS), its loss-generating stainless steel joint ventur...

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...

Seoul vows zero-tolerance measures against unfair stock trading

South Korea’s top financial regulators and its stock exchange operator will launch a joint task force to strengthen oversight of unlawful fina...