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...

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...

Shinsegae, Hana Financial, Bain Capital to finance $438 mn Starfield Cheongna

Shinsegae Property, a subsidiary of South Korean retail giant Shinsegae Group, on Tuesday unveiled a 600 billion won ($438 million) investment agree...

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...

Korea Investment & Securities, Capital Group eye product launch in Korea

Korea Investment & Securities Co. (KIS), a unit of Korea Investment Holdings Co., is exploring new offshore funds for individual investors in co...

DB Insurance in talks to buy US auto insurer Fortegra in $1.5 billion deal

DB Insurance Co., a leading South Korean non-life insurance company, is in advanced talks to acquire US-based insurer Fortegra in a deal that could ...

Hanwha acquires Indonesian bank, first foreign banking venture by Korean insurer

Hanwha Life Insurance Co. has become the first South Korean insurance firm to advance into the overseas banking sector by securing a controlling sta...

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...

S.Korea’s pension fund NPS posts weaker returns amid US tariff concerns

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

NH, KB Securities, Kookmin Bank, Kim & Chang lead capital markets in H1

NH Investment & Securities Co. retained its lead in South Korea’s equity capital market (ECM) in the first half, riding a surge in large-s...

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...

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...

Calls grow for stronger LP oversight in national strategic asset M&As

MBK Partners’ takeover attempt of Korea Zinc Inc. has exposed the vulnerability of national strategic assets to private equity ownership, posi...

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...

Miri Capital closes in on STIC Investments chairman’s stake

Miri Capital Management LLC has steadily raised its stake in STIC Investments Inc., narrowing the ownership gap with the firm’s founder and Ch...

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...

Naver Ventures to plant flag in Silicon Valley with TwelveLabs bet

Naver Ventures, the first dedicated Silicon Valley venture capital arm of Naver Corp., has made its debut investment in Nvidia Corp.-backed TwelveLa...

Seoul, once-rising art hub, feels pinch of global strains  

In Seoul’s Hannam district, the storefront that once housed Various Small Fires (VSF) now sits empty, a “For Rent” sign taped to i...