Keangnam Enterprises files for court receivership

South Korean builder Keangnam Enterprises, currently under a debt workout program, filed for court receivership on Friday, after its creditors rejected the company's request for additional financial support.The Seoul Central District Court said it has received the builder's application for the court debt-workout program.Earlier in the day, creditor banks of the cash-stripped builder turned down its petition for an additional 110 billion won ($99.2 million) in operating funds. The creditors, led

March 27, 2015

Ex-POSCO E&C exec's home raided over alleged slush fund

Prosecutors on Friday raided the home of a former vice president of POSCO Engineering & Construction Co. (POSCO E&C) over allegations that he helped create a slush fund in Vietnam a few years ago.Chung Dong-hwa allegedly helped the company's Vietnamese operations stash away about 10 billion won (US$9 million) in a secret reserve between 2009 and 2012, prosecutors said, adding he appears to have transferred 4 billion won back to South Korea.An internal audit within the company had found the exist

March 27, 2015

Creditors reject Keangnam Enterprises' call for additional support

Creditors of South Korean builder Keangnam Enterprises, currently under a debt workout program, said Friday they have rejected the company's request for additional financial support and a debt-to-equity swap scheme.The company was to file for court receivership later in the day.Last week, the cash-strapped builder had asked for an additional 110 billion won ($99.2 million) in operating funds after the creditors, led by policy lender Export-Import Bank of Korea, had poured in 2.2 trillion won for

March 27, 2015

NS Shopping goes public on Seoul bourse

NS Shopping Co., South Korea's home shopping mall that specializes in food, was listed on the Seoul bourse on Friday, the country's largest initial public offering this year. NS Shopping opened trade at 221,500 won ($200.42), below the top of its marketed range at 235,000 won. Its shares jumped 8.75 percent in the first 20 minutes of trading in the benchmark KOSPI market.The company is 40.17 percent owned by Harim Holdings Co., the nation's largest poultry producer, and is the fourth home shoppi

March 27, 2015

LG set to launch new flagship smartphone at end-April: sources

South Korea's No. 2 handset maker, LG Electronics Inc., is set to roll out its next flagship smartphone at end-April, seeking to take on its bigger rival Samsung Electronics Co., which will also release new Galaxy smartphones in two weeks, industry sources said Friday.Presumably the G4, the smartphone is expected to come with an Quad HD display in the 5-inch range like its predecessor, the G3, but with a curved touch, according to the sources.Analysts said the G4 may become a gamechanger for LG,

March 27, 2015

Car parts manufacturers fined 3.5 bln won for price rigging

South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Thursday it has slapped 3.5 billion won ($3.2 million) in fines against car parts suppliers found to have engaged in illegal cartel activities.The Fair Trade Commission said two Japanese companies and local subsidiaries, as well as a local manufacturer were found to have rigged prices in the past in violation of the country's anti-collusion rules.The companies supplied parts to Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. that effectively control around 75 percent

March 26, 2015

Showbox to partner with Chinese film studio

South Korea's leading movie distributor, Showbox/Media Inc., has signed a three-year deal to produce up to six films with China's Huayi Brothers Media Corp., the local company said Thursday.Showbox, under the partnership deal signed Wednesday, will establish a Chinese unit, Showbox China, and use it to help fund and produce up to six feature films with the major Chinese film studio through 2018. Showbox didn't disclose when the Chinese unit will be set up.Huayi Brothers will be in charge of mark

March 26, 2015

LG launches LTE-based smartwatch on home turf

South Korea's No. 2 tech firm, LG Electronics Inc., said Thursday it will roll out its latest long-term evolution network-powered smartwatch in the country with a price tag of 650,000 won ($589) later this week.The LG Watch Urbane LTE, which comes with its own universal subscriber identity module card that allows users to make phone calls without being paired with smartphones, will be available starting Friday through LG Uplus Corp., the country's smallest mobile carrier.The smart device was fir

March 26, 2015

Samsung Engineering to lay off workers this year

Samsung Engineering Co., one of South Korea's leading builders, plans to cut 700 workers by the end of 2015, company and industry sources said Thursday, in line with a groupwide move to slash costs amid lackluster returns.The company said in its investor relations report that it plans to streamline its workers to 7,550, about an 8.4 percent drop from the current 8,255 workforce, by the end of this year."The layoff is only a part of routine efforts to make manpower management more efficient," a S

March 26, 2015

BMW launches plug-in EV in S. Korea

BMW Korea, the local unit of German carmaker BMW, launched the i8 plug-in hybrid electric vehicle in South Korea on Thursday, igniting competition in the burgeoning environment-friendly car market.The i8 plug-in sports car is equipped with an engine and an electric motor, which can be charged from outside. It can run 37 kilometers with a fully charged electric motor and go as far as 600 kilometers if it uses both the motor and the engine, the company said.The car adopted carbon fiber reinforced

March 26, 2015

Samung heir meets CITIC head, discusses business ties

Lee Jay-yong, the vice president of Samsung Electronics Co. and the heir-apparent of Samsung Group, met the head of China-based financial giant CITIC Group and discussed ideas on business ties, the Samsung office said Thursday.Lee met Chang Zhenming, the chairman of CITIC, for follow-up talks on an agreement signed between Samsung Securities Co. and CITIC Securities earlier this month for cooperation in the financial sector."Lee expressed gratitude for the cooperation between the two brokerage h

March 26, 2015

Samsung cuts wages, ad spending amid earnings slump

South Korea's top tech giant, Samsung Electronics Co., reduced its combined expenditures on wages and advertisements in 2014 apparently due to its lackluster earnings, data showed Thursday.The market behemoth handed out 9.3 trillion won ($8.44 billion) to its employees in 2014, down 0.3 percent from a year earlier, its regulatory data showed.The number of workers at Samsung Electronics based in South Korea, however, came to 99,386 at end-2014, up 3.7 percent from a year earlier, according to a s

March 26, 2015

Head of Amore Pacific beats Samsung heir in stock assets

Suh Kyung-bae, chairman of Amore Pacific Group, the country's top cosmetics maker, overtook Samsung Group's heir-apparent Wednesday to become South Korea's second-richest man in stock value, market data showed.At the end of market closing, Suh's stocks were valued at 8.457 trillion won ($7.64 billion), up 43.7 percent from 5.88 trillion won at end-December, according to the data. The value of shares owned by Lee Jay-yong, the only son of the Samsung Group chief, totaled 8.454 trillion won, down

March 25, 2015

Park No-hwang elected new president of Yonhap News Agency

Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's key news service, on Wednesday elected Park No-hwang, a director of Yonhap Infomax, as its new president and chief executive officer in a shareholders and board meeting.Park's election came after the board of the News Agency Promotion Foundation, Yonhap's largest shareholder, decided to recommend him as Yonhap's new president in a meeting on March 10.The 57-year-old Park will begin his three-year tenure in an inaugural ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, replacing

March 25, 2015

Hotel Shilla taps ex-Nuance Group CEO for overseas push

Hotel Shilla, the operator of South Korea's No. 2 duty-free chain Shilla Duty Free, said Wednesday it has tapped a former chief executive at Swiss duty-free firm Nuance Group in what is seen as its aggressive efforts to expand abroad.Roberto Graziani, who led Nuance Group for over 10 years, will be acting as a standing adviser for Hotel Shilla's duty-free business and vice chairman of its U.S. subsidiary, the Samsung affiliate said in a press release.The industry veteran stepped down from the to

March 25, 2015

Samsung holds Galaxy S6-inspired runway show

Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday it held a fashion show with looks inspired by its latest smartphones, the Galaxy S6 and its offbeat sister Galaxy S6 Edge, slated to hit shelves early next month. Held on the sidelines of Seoul Fashion Week 2015, the Galaxy S6 First Look event on Tuesday presented dresses in colors of the new smartphones: white, black, gold, blue and green. Samsung is set to release the new handsets on April 10."We are pleased to introduce the beautiful design and colors of

March 25, 2015

Ssangyong unveils renderings of concept SUV

Ssangyong Motor Co., the smallest carmaker in South Korea, Wednesday unveiled renderings of a concept SUV to be showcased at an upcoming Seoul motor show that it said would strengthen its brand identity as an SUV maker. The concept car, named XAV that stands for "exiting authentic SUV," shows off a box-typed external design that could provide a roomy interior needed for outdoor leisure activities.  It also adopts a unique shoulder wing design that's reminiscent of the early version of the Korand

March 25, 2015

Korean Air to launch code sharing program with Jin Air

South Korea's largest full-service carrier Korean Air Lines Co. said Tuesday it will begin offering code-shared flights to six different routes with its wholly owned budget carrier Jin Air Co. this week. The latest arrangement allows customers to book Jin Air flights from South Korea's main gateway Incheon to Guam, Nagasaki, Okinawa, Macau, Kota Kinabalu and Vientiane via Korean Air.Those who book the designated flights will also be able to receive mileage benefits with the country's flagship ca

March 24, 2015

Hotel Shilla gains 1.8 pct on DFASS deal

Shares of Hotel Shilla, operator of the country's No. 2 duty-free chain Shilla Duty Free, closed up 1.8 percent on Tuesday as investors pinned hopes on the company's stake purchase into U.S. duty-free firm DFASS.The Samsung affiliate ended at 99,800 won ($90.30) on the Seoul main bourse, closing at its highest level since 101,000 won on Feb. 26. The KOSPI gained 0.23 percent to 2,041.37.The share price gain comes on the heels of the company's Monday announcement of its $105 million deal to buy a

March 24, 2015

Samsung SDS ties up with U.S. firm in push for logistics biz

Samsung SDS Co., an IT solution arm of South Korea's top conglomerate, Samsung Group, said Tuesday it has joined forces with a U.S. software giant to sell its logistics software platform to China as part of its efforts to tap into the overseas logistics market. Samsung SDS signed a preliminary deal with Oracle Corp., in which the two sides agreed to develop and market a logistics solution system based on their big-data analysis tools, the Seoul-based company said in a statement. The tie-up is la

March 24, 2015