Watchdog probes overpricing allegations against Yuhan Kimberly

[THE INVESTOR] The Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation into Yuhan Kimberly on allegations that it is overpricing sanitary pads. Yuhan-Kimberly is a joint venture between Korean pharmaceutical and chemical firm Yuhan Co. and Kimberly-Clark of the US. The antitrust watchdog is looking into whether it can apply laws banning companies from abusing their market dominant position when deciding on product prices. FTC head Chung Jae-chan“We are looking into the matter, and because the in

July 11, 2016

S. Korea to issue W1tr Treasury bills

[THE INVESTOR] The government will issue 1 trillion won (US$ 871.5 billion) in Treasury bills, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced on July 11. The T-bills will be issued in two equal batches on July 20 and July 27. Including the bills that will be issued later this month, the value of outstanding T-bills will stand at 4 trillion won. By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)

July 11, 2016

NPS loads up on auto, chemicals, pharma stocks

[THE INVESTOR] The National Pension Service padded up its portfolio with auto, chemical and pharmaceutical stocks while offloading food and textile shares this year, data showed on July 10. According to the latest financial industry data, of the companies in which the NPS holds 5 percent or more stake, 135 saw an increase during the first six months of the year. The figures are based on the NPS’ portfolio as of end-June. National Pension ServiceOf these, 13 are in the automotive industry, 12 in

July 11, 2016

[ANALYST REPORT] Tougher environmental regulations credit negative for KEPCO, subsidiaries

On July 5, the Korean government raised the minimum amount of electricity that generation companies should produce from renewable sources to 5 percent of each generator’s annual output for 2018, 6 percent for 2019 and 7 percent for 2020, a 0.5-1.0 percentage-point increase from its previous targets under the Renewable Portfolio Standard. The government also said that it aims to boost generators’ direct sales of renewable-sourced electricity to residential and industrial consumers. These initiati

July 11, 2016

[ANALYST REPORT] Korea’s growth to benefit from strong FDI

On July 4, Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that foreign direct investment commitments in the first six months of this year increased by 18.6 percent from a year earlier to $10.5 billion, equal to 0.8 percent of 2015 GDP. This is credit positive for Korea (Aa2 stable) because, combined with government initiatives to restructure the Korean economy, these commitments will support economic growth, which has been negatively affected by dampened global demand. Total FDI commit

July 11, 2016