Korean fintech sector struggles amid liquidity drought

Korean fintech sector struggles amid liquidity drought

A three-year-old South Korean fintech company is having trouble raising money through a Series B funding round as investor sentiment on the sector h...

Tumbling Korean won increases corporate debt burden

Tumbling Korean won increases corporate debt burden

The South Korean won extended its losses to hit its weakest level since the 2008-09 global financial crisis on Wednesday, pressured by higher-than-e...

SK REIT to raise $550 million in debt for Jongno Tower deal

SK REIT to raise $550 million in debt for Jongno Tower deal

South Korea’s SK REIT Co. has been diversifying funding sources into short-term debt to finance its recent purchases of landmark office buildi...

Lotte Card draws bid from Hana as key candidates back off

Lotte Card draws bid from Hana as key candidates back off

South Korea's Lotte Card Co. has drawn preliminary bids from Hana Financial Group, a leading banking group in the country, and two to three unidenti...

CalSTRS, Korea's KTCU consider launching 2nd real estate JV

CalSTRS, Korea's KTCU consider launching 2nd real estate JV

The Korean Teachers’ Credit Union (KTCU), a retirement fund for South Korean teachers and employees, and the California State Teachers' Retire...

KKR, Macquarie race for $728 mn stake in Korea’s KT Cloud

KKR, Macquarie race for $728 mn stake in Korea’s KT Cloud

Global private equity giants Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and Macquarie Asset Management are among the preliminary bidders for shares wor...

Korea inflation slows, but BOK may still hike interest rates

Korea inflation slows, but BOK may still hike interest rates

South Korea’s headline inflation eased in August for the first time in seven months on a slower rise in oil prices, but the central bank is st...

Korean big-box stores see credit rating downgrades

Korean big-box stores see credit rating downgrades

Two credit rating agencies have lowered South Korean big-box retail giants’ credit profiles. Korea’s top three big-box stores, Homeplus ...

Korea's NPS posts 8% loss from investment in H1 2022

Korea's NPS posts 8% loss from investment in H1 2022

National Pension Service (NPS) of South Korea had an 8% negative return during the first half of 2022, its investment management arm announced on Au...

SK Group reworks 'financial story' action plans

SK Group reworks 'financial story' action plans

Chief executives of South Korea’s No. 2 conglomerate SK Group are overhauling their action plans to implement the “financial story&rdquo...

SoftBank-backed Tridge becomes South Korea’s first agriculture unicorn 

SoftBank-backed Tridge becomes South Korea’s first agriculture unicorn 

South Korea’s agriculture and food trading platform Tridge Co. announced Thursday that it raised 50 billion won ($37.4 million) from DS Asset ...

Kurly, Golfzon get preliminary nod for 2022 IPOs

Kurly, Golfzon get preliminary nod for 2022 IPOs

Gourmet food delivery platform Kurly and Golfzon County have won preliminary approval for their initial public offerings set for this year.The Korea...

Growing sense of déjà vu of 2008 global financial crisis

Growing sense of déjà vu of 2008 global financial crisis

Private equity firms have snapped up South Korean assets over the past two years, driving their valuations near historic highs in the liquidity-driv...

Seoul advises Mirae to cut leverage for $3 bn IFC deal

Seoul advises Mirae to cut leverage for $3 bn IFC deal

South Korea’s land ministry has advised Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. to cut the proposed leverage for its 4.1 trillion ($3 billion) deal...

Korea Inc. cuts factory runs, capex on record inventory

Korea Inc. cuts factory runs, capex on record inventory

Samsung Electronics Co. and other major South Korean companies have reduced their plant operations and capital expenditures as weakening demand amid...

S. Korea's digital asset exchange operators bulk up despite crypto winter

S. Korea's digital asset exchange operators bulk up despite crypto winter

Despite being in crypto winter, or a period in which prices of major cryptocurrencies have slid and stayed low for weeks on end, South Korea's bigge...

Korea's NPS upped alternative investment by 33% in 2021

Korea's NPS upped alternative investment by 33% in 2021

The National Pension Service (NPS) of South Korea committed 204.4 trillion won ($156.7 billion) to alternative investment as of end-2021, up 32.7% f...

Korea’s BC Card to buy Indonesian IT firm for SE Asia biz growth

Korea’s BC Card to buy Indonesian IT firm for SE Asia biz growth

BC Card Co., a South Korean financial services provider, agreed to acquire an Indonesian IT company as it expands its businesses into overseas marke...

Korea Inc. rushes to cut debt as interest rates surge

Korea Inc. rushes to cut debt as interest rates surge

South Korean companies scrambled for lowering debts and borrowing costs with new financial and business strategies as interest rates on corporate lo...

Japan’s multifamily assets shine amid market volatility: Savills IM

Japan’s multifamily assets shine amid market volatility: Savills IM

Multifamily assets have been a key investment target due to their resilience amid economic volatility. Japan, with the largest real estate market in...

KIC taps investment strategy head Lee Hoon as CIO

KIC taps investment strategy head Lee Hoon as CIO

Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) is set to appoint Lee Hoon, the senior managing director and head of the investment strategy & innovation d...

S.Korean startup Time Percent gives power to digital asset investors 

S.Korean startup Time Percent gives power to digital asset investors 

South Korean startup Time Percent Corp. was founded a year ago with the specific goal of giving power to the investors of digital assets, rather tha...

Korean firms rush to sell real estate to raise cash

Korean firms rush to sell real estate to raise cash

South Korean companies are selling real estate and subsidiaries to raise cash as accelerating inflation, rising interest rates and the soft won all ...

KB Asset aims for first IPO of Korea's homegrown infrastructure fund

KB Asset aims for first IPO of Korea's homegrown infrastructure fund

South Korea’s KB Asset Management Co. is set to list its Balhae Infrastructure Fund (Balhae) on the country’s main bourse Kospi in the s...

South Korea’s Mirae Asset Group bets $100 million on SpaceX

South Korea’s Mirae Asset Group bets $100 million on SpaceX

Mirae Asset Securities Co. is poised to invest $100 million in US spacecraft and satellite communication corporation SpaceX. The South Korean f...

Korean firms eye alternative assets for safer investments, survey finds

Korean firms eye alternative assets for safer investments, survey finds

South Korean corporates are increasingly eyeing alternative assets seeking downside protection amid interest rate hikes and equity and bond price dr...

NPS sees 14 investment managers resign by end-June

NPS sees 14 investment managers resign by end-June

National Pension Service (NPS) of South Korea sees as many as 14 professionals of its investment management arm resign by end-June of this year, acc...

Korean retirement funds, mutual aids struggle with profitability

Korean retirement funds, mutual aids struggle with profitability

Some major retirement funds in South Korea are raising interest rates on their members’ savings accounts in line with global central banks&rsq...

Korea faces risk from record $114 bn in inventory assets

Korea faces risk from record $114 bn in inventory assets

South Korea’s major listed companies held record inventory assets as they piled up raw materials to deal with the global supply chain disrupti...

Korea to reboot nuclear power sector with orders, aid

Korea to reboot nuclear power sector with orders, aid

South Korea plans to rebuild the nuclear power plant industry hard hit by the previous government’s nuclear energy phasing-out policy by placi...

Hyundai Glovis charts new waters with world’s first AI-driven self-sailing car carrier fleet Korea’s game studios rebrand as AI tech firms, move into fashion, robotics, media Return of the K-pop queens: Blackpink, Twice power up YG, JYP Samsung to launch AI health coach beta in US by end-2025 South Korea moves to mandate treasury share cancellation