S. Korea speeds up supply of filters to boost mask production

South Korea said Friday it will supply around 10 tons of filters to mask producers to boost production of protective masks, which are in short supply due to the coronavirus pandemic. The filters, which will be enough to make at least 7 million protective masks, will be sent to 14 local mask producers, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. South Korea has imported 4.5 tons of filters, while another 5.7 tons have been produced by Toray Advanced Materials Korea Inc., an affilia

EconomyApril 3, 2020

S&P puts Hyundai on negative watchlist amid virus pandemic

S&P Global Ratings on Thursday placed Hyundai Motor Group on its watchlist of firms with a negative outlook, citing the impact of the new coronavirus pandemic on the global automobile industry. "The COVID-19 pandemic is causing production suspensions and weakening demand in the global auto industry, which was already facing slowing demand in 2019," S&P said in a report as it placed the South Korean auto giant on "CreditWatch with negative implications," hinting its r

MarketApril 2, 2020

Doosan Group execs to forgo 30% of their wages

Doosan Group said Thursday that its chairman Park Jeong-won and other executives will forgo their salaries by 30 percent as part of efforts to help normalize troubled affiliate Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction. Doosan Group said the pay cuts will affect executives of all of its affiliates, including Doosan Heavy, beginning this month. Still, no specific time frame was given for when the pay cuts will remain in effect. Doosan Heavy, South Korea's largest power equipment maker, said ab

IndustryApril 2, 2020

Deal shows virus-hit airlines can sell debt but cost steep

A bond deal by South Korea’s biggest airline showed that while carriers pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic can still sell debt, they will need to pay a steep price. The fee Korean Air Lines paid underwriters to issue won notes jumped to a record 1.157percent, four times what it was charged in a similar deal in September. And an unusually numerous 15 sales managers took part in the offering this week of 600 billion won ($490 million) of debt backed by sales of future passenger tickets, a

MarketApril 2, 2020

S. Korea starts 1st quantitative easing operation

South Korea’s central bank on Thursday funneled around 5.2 trillion won ($4.2 billion) of liquidity to the financial markets shaken by the novel coronavirus, through its first round of auctions held in conjunction with its “unlimited” repo operations. The Bank of Korea last week, in an unprecedented move, vowed to inject more liquidity into the market over the next three months through a repurchase agreement or repo operations, allowing securities to be sold and then repurch

EconomyApril 2, 2020

Korea's proposed M&As shrink to half in Q1

The volume of proposed mergers and acquisitions in South Korea has shrunk to about half in the first quarter of 2020, reflecting the impact of the novel coronavirus, data showed Thursday. The first quarter saw 5.23 trillion won ($4.22 billion) worth of deals announced, falling 50.6 percent on-year, according to a league table by news outlet thebell. This comes as the coronavirus pandemic is causing delays in reaching agreements between parties due to market uncertainties. Major deals annou

MarketApril 2, 2020

BlackRock offloads W130b stake in NCSoft

US investment house BlackRock Fund Advisors has offloaded its 1.01 percent stake in South Korea’s game software developer NCSoft to cash out 129.57 billion won ($105.1 million), a filing showed Thursday. As a result, BlackRock Fund Advisors and its 13 specially related parties hold 6.05 percent voting rights in the company as of March 25 as a nonengagement shareholder. NCsoft share price rose 6.15 percent. The investor said its transactions from September to March were “meant to se

MarketApril 2, 2020

SK Innovation, vulnerable to Europe virus crisis, charters flight to Hungary

SK Innovation has decided to dispatch employees to its electric vehicle battery plant in Hungary, where it has less workforce presence than other Korean EV battery manufacturers. According to SK Innovation, the company will dispatch 300 staff members on a chartered flight to Hungary on April 5 to support the construction of its second EV battery plant in Komarom, as global travel restrictions have limited the deployment of necessary personnel to the construction site. “Though SK Innov

IndustryApril 2, 2020

NCSoft kicks off four-day workweek

Korean game company NCSoft said Thursday it will launch a four-day workweek to create a safer working environment and support families with children, amid the worsening novel coronavirus pandemic. The company will operate a four-day workweek for four weeks from this weekend until April 29, employing flexible work schedules and allowing telecommuting for those pregnant or with underlying conditions. “All 4,000 staff members will be given paid leave every week during the period, which

IndustryApril 2, 2020

Tobacco firm BAT jumps in coronavirus vaccine development venture

BAT’s US biotech subsidiary, Kentucky BioProcessing is developing a potential vaccine for COVID-19 that is now in pre-clinical testing, the tobacco firm said Thursday. BAT aims to gain partners and support from government agencies to manufacture a vaccine, if successful, to a capacity of between 1 million and 3 million doses per week, beginning in June, it said. The venture is not aimed at making a profit, it added. The project involves BAT’s proprietary, fast-growing tobacco pla

TechnologyApril 2, 2020

Kepco excludes China from submarine power cable project

The Korea Electric Power Corp. on Thursday excluded Chinese firms from entering a bid for its submarine power cable project. According to an online notice posting, only countries that are members of the Government Procurement Agreement of the World Trade Organization are eligible for the international bidding of #3HVDC (high voltage, direct current) submarine power cable project connecting Wando, an island off the coast of South Jeolla Province, and Jeju Island. China is not a member of the

IndustryApril 2, 2020

Vaccine development must go on: Celltrion

Despite the ambivalent sentiments about COVID-19 vaccine development, South Korean biologics company Celltrion said it was determined to continue with the project. Celltrion on Thursday said it was now screening to select the most effective antibodies to neutralize the virus behind the pandemic with the Korea Centers for Disease Control. The company aims to finish the work in a couple of weeks, after which it will start mass production of the therapeutics for clinical studies while simultane

IndustryApril 2, 2020

KRX to ditch 30% cap on index weighting

The Korea Exchange (KRX) said Thursday it has decided not to implement a new rule meant to prevent major indices from dominant influence of a single stock. The stock market operator previously considered applying the so-called “30 percent cap” rule on market bellwether Samsung Electronics by June, as its weight on Kospi 200 increased to 33.5 percent as of Jan. 20 from 29.8 percent of Dec. 2. “The purpose of applying the rule was to comply with regulations. Due to the revisio

MarketApril 2, 2020

Core inflation hits 20-year low amid stalled market sentiment

Suffering the full-blown impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea’s core inflation hit its lowest point in 20 years, as dining prices dwindled amid social distancing and the government’s tax cut measures brought down automobile prices, government data showed Thursday. Due to the country’s consistent rationing system, the average price of KF94 face masks leveled off in the offline market, indicating some cooling in the previous supply-demand imbalance. The consumer p

EconomyApril 2, 2020

Temasek sells Celltrion stake in block deal

Ion Investments, an affiliate of Singaporean investment firm Temasek Holdings, sold millions of shares of Korean biosimilar giant Celltrion and its distribution affiliate Celltrion Healthcare in a block deal before markets opened, according to news reports Thursday. The Singapore-based investment firm sold 2.57 million shares, or 1.9 percent, of Celltrion, and 2.21 million shares, or 1.5 percent, of Celltrion Healthcare via the block trading deal. The stock price of Celltrion fell 8.08 perc

MarketApril 2, 2020

Danaher rebrands GE Healthcare Life Sciences to Cytiva

Danaher said Thursday it has launched Cytiva -- formerly GE Healthcare Life Sciences, which it acquired for $21.4 billion -- aiming to completely rebrand the biologics side of General Electric’s business. Cytiva’s projects, spanning from cell and gene therapies to protein research, biosimilar and novel biologics drug development, are highly in demand amid the COVID-19, according to the Cytiva CEO and president, Emmanuel Ligner. After the transition from GE Healthcare Life Science

IndustryApril 2, 2020

Virus-stricken air carriers tighten belts with reconstructing, downsizing

Korean air carriers that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic are undergoing restructuring to downsize the workforce amid continued losses from reduced passengers and suspensions of international routes, according to industry sources on Thursday. Eastar Jet, a local budget carrier that halted all services from March 23 for a month, said Thursday it will send 45 percent, or 750 employees, of its total workforce home from April 24.  The air carrier said it will first receive applica

MobilityApril 2, 2020

Amorepacific launches eye shadow palette for men

Amorepacific’s male cosmetics brand BeREADY said Thursday it has launched a new eye shadow palette for men. BeREADY, which was introduced last year, said it rolled out the Mood Up Shadow Eye Palette, the first eye palette product in the market to be developed for men. The brand said the range of cosmetics used by men are expanding from skin base creams to color items. The four colors of the eye palette are chosen based on how well they blend and can also be used for facial contouring,

ConsumerApril 2, 2020

Net asset values of funds dive in March

Investment funds in South Korea posted a sharp valuation fall in March over fears of the novel coronavirus, marking the largest decline so far, data showed Thursday. The combined net asset value of public offering and private placement funds, excluding private equity funds that entail management involvement in companies, sank to 646.19 trillion won ($520.74 billion) as of end-March, down 45.66 trillion won from the previous month, according to the Korea Financial Investment Association. The t

MarketApril 2, 2020

Pengsoo creates hit for retailers

Pengsoo, a popular costumed penguin character from educational television network EBS, is sweeping the local retail market, with sales rocketing. GS25, a convenience store chain here, said Thursday its collaboration products with Pengsoo is hitting record sales. GS25 rolled out four Pengsoo-themed fresh food items, including tuna sandwich and gimbab (seaweed rice-roll), two umbrellas and four socks on March 27. Over 200,000 orders were made from its convenience stores on the first day of la

ConsumerApril 2, 2020