Sejung heiress promoted to COO

[THE INVESTOR] Sejung Group chairman Park Soon-ho’s daughter Park I-ra, 38, has been promoted to chief operating officer and executive vice president at her father’s fashion empire.According to the group on July 1, the junior Park will also serve as head of the group’s apparel distributor Sejung & Future.Established in 1974, Sejung has a stronghold in women’s apparel and is one of the leading second-tier clothing firms in the country.Sejung Group COO Park I-raPark, the chairman’s third daughter,

July 1, 2016

Lotte’s key finance man questioned in growing probe

Lotte Insurance chief executive Kim Hyun-soo.[THE INVESTOR] Lotte Insurance chief executive Kim Hyun-soo has been summoned for questioning in the prosecution’s probe into Lotte Group. He has been summoned as a witness. Kim served in accounting rolls in Lotte Department Store from 1987 to 2014. From 2007, he was in charge of the company’s finances.   In serving as the company’s finance chief, Kim is said to have managed personal funds of Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho, and current chairman Shin

June 23, 2016

Richest under 40: Koo Gwang-mo

[BORN TO BE RICH] Among South Korea's richest aged 40 years or younger, LG chairman’s the adopted son Koo Gwang-mo, 38, of LG Group is the wealthiest. His net worth is estimated at 751.8 billion won (US$650.5 million).LG Corp. vice president Koo Gwang-mo.Koo is the great grandson of LG’s founder, the late Koo In-hoe. He was born to Heesung Group chairman Koo Bong-neung, but was adopted by his uncle Koo Bon-moo, chairman of LG. Gwang-mo is currently a vice president of LG Corp. He was promoted to

June 22, 2016

Conglomerates selling stakes in money-making affiliates to raise funds

[THE INVESTOR] Owners of the nation’s top conglomerates are increasingly selling their stakes in various money-making affiliates to raise funds needed for participating in capital increases of other key affiliates.On June 8, Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang-ho sold a 6.87 percent stake in one of Hanjin’s real estate brokering affiliates for 25.1 billion won (US$21.3 million), according to a regulatory filing on June 16. The brokering affiliate had posted 41.3 billion won in sales and 14 billion wo

June 17, 2016

Kakao to split its business into two arms

[THE INVESTOR] Mobile messenger operator Kakao is reportedly planning to split its services business into two divisions -- social network and portal.The social network division will be in charge of running its flagship social networking services including KakaoTalk and KakaoStory while the portal business will be operating news platform Daum News and content platform KakaoTalk Channel among others.KakaoTalk ChannelLim Sung-young, director of the firm’s media content team, will head the portal bu

June 17, 2016

Divorce battle reveals unknown aspects of Samsung family

[THE INVESTOR] Packed with twists and turns, a divorce suit between former Samsung Electro-Mechanics executive Lim Woo-jae and his wife and Hotel Shilla president Lee Boo-jin unveiled unknown stories behind the family owners of Samsung Group, the largest conglomerate in Korea.Lim, first son-in-law of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, said in an interview with Korean news publication Hankyoreh on June 16 that he had twice attempted suicide during the 17 years of his marriage due to pressure fro

June 17, 2016

Top 10 chaebol owners rake in hefty dividends

[THE INVESTOR] The nation’s top 10 chaebol owners raked in hefty dividends from affiliates over the past five years, Chaebul.com, a local website that tracks chaebol, revealed on June 15. The total amounts of dividends reached almost 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion) between 2011 and 2015.Chaebul.com said their actual dividends could be a lot more considering the figures are based on their listed companies only. #1 Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee with 681.1 billion won in dividends The Sa

June 15, 2016

Family-controlled firms show higher profitability: report

Family-run companies were found to generate higher profitability compared to rivals, a report said on Thursday, claiming that involvement by "owner" families leads to good business results.According to the report compiled by the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), 4,683 family-controlled firms here posted a return on asset (ROA) ratio of 3.7 percent between 2000 and 2014.A family-controlled firm in the report is defined as family members having a stake of 20 percent or more, or two or more

March 31, 2016

Former KORAIL chief summoned over corruption in urban development project

Prosecutors summoned a former chief of Korea's rail operator Thursday on suspicions of bribery in connection to a now-scrapped urban development plan in Seoul.Huh Joon-young, who led the Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) from 2009 to 2011, appeared before the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul. Huh Joon-young, former president of the Korea Railroad Corp. (Yonhap)The 63-year-old is accused of receiving illegal political funds from his aide, identified only by his surname Soh

March 31, 2016

[Super Rich] Hyundai Corp. latest Chung family group

Leading Korean trading company Hyundai Corp. has become the latest member of the so-called Chung Ju-yung family conglomerate groups -- which include Hyundai Motor Group, Hyundai Group, Hyundai Department and Hyundai Heavy Industries -- with the Fair Trade Commission approving its separation from HHI last week. The late business tycoon Chung founded Hyundai in 1947.The move was expected as Hyundai Corp. chairman Chung Mong-hyuck secured controlling stake in the company and Hyundai C&F, a wholesal

March 29, 2016

Economic uncertainty spurs real estate investment

Despite growing global fears over economic uncertainty, cross-border direct real estate investments in major cities around the world are expected to increase this year, drawing a comparison with shaky stock and bond markets, according to experts.Explaining the attractive nature of direct real estate investment, Alistair Meadows, Asia-Pacific head of International Capital Group within global real estate service firm Jones Lang LaSalle, and David Green-Morgan, director of Global Capital Markets Re

Feb. 15, 2016

Lotte founder names 1st son as legitimate heir through video

Lotte Group founder's first son released a video earlier this week in which his father named him as the legitimate heir of the conglomerate, industry sources said Wednesday, amid the prolonged dispute over which son will inherit the company.  (Yonhap)"Dong-joo, the first son, is the heir in both Japan and South Korea. This is a common sense. There will be no reliability if someone else takes the post," the founder said in the video in Japanese. Last year, Shin's second son, Dong-bin, took contro

Feb. 10, 2016

21 Korean firms incorporated into DJSI World

A total of 21 domestic companies were incorporated into the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, according to the Korea Productivity Center. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices ― a group of 14 indices covering different regions ― are maintained collaboratively by S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the largest global resources that produces stock market indices, and RobecoSAM, a Swiss-based investment company that concentrates on sustainability investments.They measure the performance of the world’s

Jan. 21, 2016