ABL Bio signs $1.06b deal with Sanofi for Parkinson’s disease treatment

ABL Bio has signed a contract worth up to $1.06 billion (1.27 trillion won) with French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi to co-develop ABL301, an antibody treatment candidate for degenerative brain diseases including Parkinson’s disease, the Korean biotech company said Wednesday. ABL Bio will receive $75 million in down payments, according to the deal. The Korean biotech company will also be able to rake in up to $985 million depending on the success of clinical trials, regulatory approval and

TechnologyJan. 12, 2022

Naver invests in e-commerce data startup

Naver D2 Startup Factory has made a follow-on investment in local e-commerce data startup Datarize, the IT giant said Wednesday. Stonebridge Ventures led the series A funding of Datarize with co-investments from Weventures, Korea Development Bank and Mirae Asset Venture Investment. The total funding amounted to 11.5 billion won ($9.6 million). Naver D2 Startup Factory had previously taken part in the seed investment of Datarize in 2020. Datarize developed an all-in-one growth solution for onl

IndustryJan. 12, 2022

Pernod Ricard Korea launches Time Well Spent campaign to solidify local presence

Pernod Ricard Korea’s new “Time Well Spent” campaign will solidify its position as a market leader in the local whiskey market, which is constantly expanding, the liquor firm said Wednesday.  According to Pernod Ricard Korea’s marketing director Kim Kyung-yeon, the domestic imported whiskey market made 58 percent growth compared to 2019. “With increased public interest in whiskey, high-end whiskey categories and the malt whiskey saw significant growth -&ndash

IndustryJan. 12, 2022

Samsung's chip biz faces minimal impact from Xi'an lockdown: analysts

The prolonged lockdown in the Chinese city of Xi'an will have minimal impact on the performance of Samsung Electronics Co., which has a chip fabrication complex there, analysts said Wednesday. Samsung, the world's largest memory chip maker, temporarily adjusted operations at its NAND flash chips manufacturing base in the city late last month, following the city's draconian restrictions imposed on Dec. 22, banning its 13 million citizens from venturing out and doing nonessential activities, to s

IndustryJan. 12, 2022

Market cap of top 100 firms gains 10.8% over past year

South Korea's top 100 companies have seen their total market capitalization swell nearly 11 percent over the past one-year period, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. The combined market value of those leading firms came to 2,128 trillion won ($1.78 trillion) as of Jan. 3 this year, up 10.8 percent from a year earlier, according to Korea CXO Institute. The number of listed firms with a market cap of 1 trillion won or more stood at 288, up 54 from a year earlier. Global tech behemoth Samsung E

MarketJan. 12, 2022

LG supplies in-car infotainment system to Mercedes-AMG EQS

LG Electronics said Wednesday it has supplied its premium in-car infotainment system to be featured in the 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS full-electric luxury sedan. LG’s system combines three displays – instrument cluster display, central information display and co-driver display – into a single, panoramic screen that stretches across the entire width of the car’s dashboard. Thanks to the use of a plastic organic light-emitting diode display, the South Korean tech giant said,

TechnologyJan. 12, 2022

Money supply up 1.1% in Nov. amid increased savings

South Korea's money supply expanded in November as savings increased due in part to rising interest rates, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's M2, a key gauge of the money supply, stood at 3,589.1 trillion won ($3.01 trillion) on average in November, up 1.1 percent, or 39.4 trillion won, from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The growth rate was the same as what was reported in October. Compared with a year earlier, the money supply

MarketJan. 12, 2022

Coupang launches Japan’s Nitori furniture in Korea

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang said Wednesday it has exclusively launched the product lines of Nitori, Japan’s largest furniture and household goods brand. According to the company, Coupang will directly import Nitori products so that customers in Korea can conveniently purchase the brand’s items. Celebrating the launch, Coupang presents a limited-time offer from Wednesday to Friday. Any Coupang customer can receive four types of discount coupons -- discounts of 3,000 won ($

ConsumerJan. 12, 2022

Hyundai Development apologizes over construction accident

GWANGJU -- The chief of Hyundai Development Co. apologized Wednesday over the collapse of a facade of a high-rise apartment building under construction, which has left six workers still missing. The exterior wall of the apartment building in the southwestern city of Gwangju crumbled down at around 3:46 p.m. Tuesday, with at least one person injured and about 10 vehicles buried under the rubble. A total of 394 people were working at the scene of the accident, but six of them were unaccounted fo

IndustryJan. 12, 2022

Daewoo E&C names insider as new CEO

Daewoo Engineering & Construction on Wednesday named Baek Jung-wan, the current head of the constructor’s housing division, as its new CEO whose appointment will be finalized in an upcoming board meeting once the planned acquisition by the Jungheung Group completes next month.  Baek, 59, a career insider, joined Daewoo E&C in 1985. He has worked as an onsite leader for Daewoo’s major apartment constructions before becoming an executive director at the company’s ho

IndustryJan. 12, 2022

S. Korea's ICT exports hit record high of $227b in 2021

South Korea's output in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry rose 24 percent in 2021 from a year earlier to reach an all-time high, data showed Wednesday. The record-high output of $227.6 billion comes on the back of solid global demand for chips, displays and rechargeable batteries, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT. Imports of such goods rose 19.9 percent on-year to $135 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $92.6 billion last year.

IndustryJan. 12, 2022

Air Premia opens cargo flights to Vietnam

South Korean budget carrier Air Premia Co. said Wednesday it has opened cargo flights to Vietnam to ride out the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. It is Air Premia's second cargo-only international route after the carrier began to offer cargo flights to Singapore last month. The company said it will consider starting passenger flights on the routes depending on the condition of the pandemic. In November, the carrier partnered with French air cargo services agent ESG Group to offset low demand in t

IndustryJan. 12, 2022

LG Energy Solution to purchase 700,000 tons of lithium ore concentrate from Australia

South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. has signed an initial contract to purchase 700,000 dry metric tons of lithium ore concentrate from an Australian miner, a document showed Wednesday, a deal that could help LG secure a supply of lithium-ion battery materials. A disclosure document posted by Liontown Resources Ltd. said it will supply the lithium spodumene concentrate to LG Energy Solution under a five-year offtake agreement starting 2024, with a potential extension for another f

IndustryJan. 12, 2022

Regulator reviews punitive measures against shippers' alleged price fixing

Regulator reviews punitive measures against shippers' alleged price fixingSouth Korea's antitrust regulator was holding a deliberation session Wednesday to decide punitive actions against HMM Co. and 22 other shippers over their suspected price fixing of freight rates. Since 2018, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has been looking into allegations that the country's top shipper HMM and 22 domestic and foreign shipping lines had colluded to fix higher freight rates for Southeast Asian sea routes.

EconomyJan. 12, 2022

ABL Bio inks $1.06b deal with Sanofi for Parkinson's disease treatment

South Korea's biotech company ABL Bio Inc. said Wednesday it has entered a global license agreement worth $1.06 billion with pharmaceutical giant Sanofi to develop and commercialize an antibody candidate to treat Parkinson's disease. ABL301 is a preclinical antibody therapeutic under development as a potential treatment of synucleinopathy, including Parkinson's disease. Under the agreement, ABL will receive $75 million in upfront payments and is eligible to receive up to $985 million based on

IndustryJan. 12, 2022

Convenience store chain CU opens 50th outlet in Malaysia

CU, South Korea's top convenience store chain, said Thursday it has established its 50th outlet in Malaysia as part of its overseas push. The opening comes nine months after CU set up its first outlet at a shopping mall in a middle-class neighborhood in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur in a tie-up with a Malaysian firm. In October 2020, BGF Retail Co., the operator of CU, signed a brand licensing deal with Mynews Holdings, the No. 2 convenience store chain in the Southeast Asian country.

IndustryJan. 12, 2022

Seoul stocks open higher after Fed chief's inflation comments

South Korean stocks opened steeply higher Wednesday as the US Fed chief's comments about inflation were largely within market expectations. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 27.86 points, or 0.95 percent, to 2,955.24 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks got off to a strong start, taking a cue from overnight rallies on Wall Street. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 1.41 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.51 percent. Federal

MarketJan. 12, 2022

Big firms' disposal of treasury shares jumps over 3 years

Major listed companies in South Korea have sharply increased their disposal of treasury shares over the past three years due mainly to efforts to boost their stock prices, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. A total of 129 listed firms retired or distributed to executives treasury shares worth 4.51 trillion won ($3.78 billion) last year, slightly up from 4.08 trillion won from 2020, according to CEO Score. The value was more than three times the 1.36 trillion won recorded two years earlier. T

MarketJan. 12, 2022

S. Korea reports largest job growth in 7 years last year amid economic recovery

South Korea added the most jobs in seven years in 2021 as the job market recovered to pre-pandemic levels due to the base effect and the economic recovery, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people reached 27.27 million last year, 369,000 more than a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the largest number since 2014, when the nation reported an on-year increase of 598,000 jobs. Last year's number was higher than the government's earlier estimat

EconomyJan. 12, 2022

Naver, Kakao stocks dip by double digits

Naver and Kakao, Korea’s two largest online service providers, saw their market caps shrink 7 trillion won each ($5.8 billion) for the last two weeks amid persistent market fluctuations over a potential rate hike by the US Federal Reserve and growing uncertainty over their growth and management ethics. The US Fed has hinted that it will reduce its overall asset holdings sooner than expected because of unabated inflation. But the hike speculation, which is dragging down shares of

MarketJan. 11, 2022