KIC, cooperative federations to coinvest $300m with foreign hedge funds

South Korea’s sole sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corp. said Thursday that it has teamed up with two Korean institutional investors to deploy a combined $300 million for co-investment with non-Korean hedge funds in a bid to increase foreign alternatives exposure. Under the plan, the three entities -- KIC, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives -- will create a joint venture before the end of 2021 and start their first co-inv

MarketNov. 11, 2021

At COP26, KB chief vows ‘positive strategy’ for green shift

KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo shared the banking group’s plans in combating climate change at an invitation-only meeting of senior officials across global sectors and governments held Wednesday at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the firm said Thursday. At the 9th High-Level Meeting of Caring for Climate, held online and offline simultaneously, Yoon was invited on behalf of the global finance sector to speak on the topic of achieving a j

MarketNov. 11, 2021

[Newsmaker] Higher-than-expected inflation to continue for time being, says BOK chief

South Korea’s central bank chief said Thursday that the economy is likely to see faster-than-expected inflation for the time being, due to the global supply bottleneck and the spike in oil prices. In an opening speech at an economic meeting with investment bankers and experts, Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol pointed to the nation’s spiking consumer prices, which gained 3.2 percent on-year -- the sharpest rise since January 2012, when the corresponding figure stood at 3.3 percent.

EconomyNov. 11, 2021

KT services suffer disruptions in Seoul

KT Corp. said Thursday it has suffered disruptions in its mobile and internet services in western Seoul, less than three weeks after an outage crippled businesses across the country. KT said the services were interrupted for nearly two hours in the Yeongdeungpo and Guro districts due to an accidental cut in the fiber-optic cables at around 10:25 a.m. KT said up to 90 percent of the disrupted services had been recovered as of 1:15 p.m. Last month, KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo apologized for the abrupt d

IndustryNov. 11, 2021

Paris Baguette lands in Indonesia

SPC Group said Thursday it opened the nation’s first Paris Baguette bakery in the Ashta District 8 shopping mall of Indonesia capital Jakarta. The move comes after the South Korean food company set up a joint venture with its local partner, Erajaya Group, last month. With a population of 270 million, Indonesia is SPC’s seventh market. The 189-square-meter space is located in the city’s biggest commercial area, the Sudirman Central Business District, and boasts more than 50

ConsumerNov. 11, 2021

Hanwha Defense wins ISO 37301 certification for compliance management

Hanwha Defense said Thursday it had become the first South Korean defense company to obtain certification for ISO 37301, a compliance management standard of the International Organization for Standardization. The ISO 37301, introduced by the international rule-setting body in April, examines whether a firm‘s compliance and risk management systems meet international standards. The ISO 37301 combines ISO standards with international agencies’ guidelines, including those from the Int

IndustryNov. 11, 2021

Hanwha Q Cells to supply power to 154,000 Texas residents

Hanwha Q Cells said Thursday it will break ground on its first energy storage systems project in Texas in January. According to the solar business unit of Hanwha Solutions, the 380-megawatt-hour project, once completed in December next year, will be able to store enough electricity for 154,000 Texas residents to use for one day. Energy storage systems are giant batteries designed to compensate for the intermittency of renewable energy. When renewables such as solar and wind power generate m

IndustryNov. 11, 2021

Hyundai Motor to build integrated data platform for mobility services

Hyundai Motor Group seeks to build an integrated data platform to provide real-time and tailored mobility services as part of its push toward the fast-evolving future industry, its division chief said Thursday. "Connected data is the basis of a platform. We plan to build a 'data lake' that utilizes data collected in real time from urban air mobility (UAM) and purpose-based cars (PBV), as well as passenger cars," Song Chang-hyun, the head of Hyundai's Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS)

IndustryNov. 11, 2021

S. Korean economy to grow 3% next year on robust private spending: KDI

The South Korean economy is forecast to grow 3 percent next year as private spending is likely to pull off a robust recovery amid the vaccine rollout, the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said Thursday. KDI's 2022 growth outlook, which remained unchanged from its estimate in May, is on par with the 3 percent growth estimates by the government and the Bank of Korea (BOK). The International Monetary Fund forecast 3.4 percent growth for Korea. "On the back of the COVID-19 vaccination drive,

EconomyNov. 11, 2021

Retail sales in 15 provinces, cities rise in Q3

Retails sales in 15 provinces and major cities in South Korea increased in the third quarter as people increased outdoor activity amid the vaccine rollout and the economic recovery, data showed Thursday. Retail sales, a gauge of private spending, rose in nine provinces and six cities in the third quarter, except for the southeastern city of Ulsan, according to the data from Statistics Korea. "The vaccine rollout helped improve consumer sentiment, and the government's provision of emergenc

ConsumerNov. 11, 2021

Hanwha Q Cells to build energy storage facility in Texas

Hanwha Q Cells, the solar solutions unit of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, said Thursday it is developing an energy storage system (ESS) facility in the US state of Texas, expanding its foothold in the American renewable energy market. The Sputnik ESS facility, to be located in Hunt county, will work as an emergency generator to help the state maintain a stable power supply and ease the power system burden, the company said. It will be installed with batteries of 380 megawatt-hours, e

IndustryNov. 11, 2021

Samsung Life Insurance net sinks 54% in Q3

South Korea's top life insurer Samsung Life Insurance Co. said Thursday its third-quarter net profit plunged more than 50 percent from a year ago, but its bottom line rose 30 percent in the first nine months of the year. Consolidated net profit stood at 159.1 billion won ($134.7 million) in the July-September period, down 54 percent from a year earlier, Samsung Life Insurance said in a regulatory filing. Revenue increased 12.9 percent on-year to 9.09 trillion won in the three-month period, whi

IndustryNov. 11, 2021

ICT exports log 2nd monthly high in October

South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products reached a second monthly high in October on the back of solid global demand for chips and displays, data showed Thursday. Outbound shipments of ICT products came to $19.92 billion last month, up 21.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The October tally marked the second-largest amount for the month on record and the 17th consecutive month of on-year ga

IndustryNov. 11, 2021

NCSOFT Q3 net down 34.8% on poor performance of new titles

NCSOFT Corp., a major South Korean online and mobile game developer, said Thursday that its net profit fell 34.8 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier due partly to poor performance of its new titles. Net profit stood at 99.5 billion won ($84.3 million) during the July-September period, compared with 152.5 billion won a year earlier, NCSOFT said in a regulatory filing. Sales fell 14.4 percent on-year to 500.6 billion won over the cited period, and operating income came to 96.3 billi

IndustryNov. 11, 2021

[Graphic News] S. Korean exports of kimchi up 13.8% in Jan.-Aug.

　South Korea’s exports of kimchi climbed nearly 14 percent in the first eight months of 2021 on growing overseas demand for healthier food amid the new coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　Outbound shipments of kimchi reached $111.5 million in the January-August period, up 13.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and the food industry. 　In contrast, imports of kimchi shrank 9.7 percent on-year to $86.1 million over the cited period, resulting

BusinessNov. 11, 2021

Seoul stocks open lower amid inflation woes

South Korean stocks opened lower Thursday, taking a cue from the estimate-beating inflation data in the United States that fanned concerns about faster than expected rate hikes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) decreased 15.85 points, or 0.54 percent, to 2,914.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The key stock index retreated as US consumer prices grew at the fastest pace since 1990. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite plunged 1.66 percent, and the Dow Jones In

MarketNov. 11, 2021

Exports rise 29.3% in first 10 days of Nov.

South Korea's exports grew 29.3 percent on-year in the first 10 days of November on the back of solid demand for chips and petroleum products, customs data showed Thursday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $18.3 billion in the Nov. 1-10 period, compared with $14.1 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports jumped 59 percent on-year to $21.2 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $2.98 billion during the cited period, the data showed. By se

EconomyNov. 11, 2021

BOK chief worries about expanded 'unknowable uncertainty' for economy

South Korea's economy remains on a recovery path driven by robust exports but faces an expanded "unknowable uncertainty" associated with global supply chain disruptions and concerns over inflation, the country's central bank chief said Thursday. Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol made the remarks in a meeting with economic experts from major think tanks, adding that next year will be an "important turning point" toward a "new balance" after a prolonged fight against th

EconomyNov. 11, 2021

Top 10 brokerages log record earnings this year

South Korea's leading securities companies posted record earnings in the first nine months of this year on a stock market boom, industry sources said Thursday. The country's top 10 brokerage housed are estimated to have registered a combined net profit of around 7 trillion won ($5.9 billion) for the January-September period, with their full-year bottom line likely to exceed 10 trillion won. Their record net profit comes as the local stock market has been on a roll this year on the back of acti

MarketNov. 11, 2021

Kakao Pay in red over rise in expenses

Kakao Pay said Wednesday that it logged a net loss in the third quarter due to increased expenses and investments. The company’s third-quarter revenue rose 73 percent on-year to 331.2 billion won ($280 million) on the growth of transaction volume and financial business. With an operating loss of 1.01 billion won, however, its net loss came to 1.8 billion won in the July-September period, data from the company showed. Kakao Pay, the financial technology arm of mobile giant Kakao Corp.

MarketNov. 10, 2021