Green Cross to issue bonds for U.S. expansion

Green Cross Corp., a listed Korean pharmaceutical company, said Thursday that it plans issue three and five-year bonds worth some 100 billion won ($86 million) to finance its expansion overseas.The company’s bond underwriter NH Investment & Securities will evaluate the value of the bonds graded AA minus through a book building process next week. Its bond issues mark the first time for the company to raise funds in the local capital market.“The proceeds will be used for its expansion in the advan

May 12, 2016

Lotte to buy Hyundai Logistics to bolster delivery business

South Korea’s conglomerate Lotte Group plans to buy a controlling stake in Hyundai Logistics, as it seeks to strengthen its delivery service to compete with other rival retailers.By the end of next week, eight affiliate companies of Lotte are set to hold board of directors meetings to get approval to buy an 88.8 percent stake in Hyundai Logistics in separate deals with an estimated value about 410 billion won ($351 million), according to Lotte officials. They expect to complete transactions with

May 11, 2016

KDB to inject capital into Eximbank through KAI shares

The state-run Korea Development Bank said Tuesday that it will hand over its shares of Korea Aerospace Industries to the Export-Import Bank of Korea as part of an emergency financial relief.“We have decided to give our KAI shares to Eximbank,” KDB chief executive Lee Dong-geol told reporters ahead of a meeting with the Financial Services Commission on Tuesday.Korea Development Bank (Yonhap)KDB will hand over its 7.86 percent stake in KAI worth about 500 billion won ($426 million) to boost the ca

May 10, 2016

Kim’s Club sale faces delay on price differences

Talks between the E-Land Group and U.S. private equity giant KKR for the sale of local retail chain Kim’s Club are dragging on due to differences over price, local reports said Monday. E-Land is trying to sell its 37-branch hypermarket franchise to KKR for about 700 billion won, but the buyout firm is refusing to pay more than half of that price, Yonhap News reported, citing unnamed sources. Kim’s Club’s revenue last year was 660 billion won.“Negotiations are going smoothly,” E-Land said, in res

May 9, 2016

Caregen eyes growth in cosmeceuticals

Caregen is not a typical Korean biotechnology company local investors are most familiar with.When it comes to biotech shares trading on the stock market, LG Life Sciences or Medy-Tox would generally come to mind. They are big biotech players, with the market cap of LG Life Sciences reaching over 1 trillion won ($858.8 million) on the benchmark KOSPI. Medy-Tox ranks 6th with nearly 3 trillion won in market cap on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ.Caregen’s booth at the World Congress of Dermatology in Vancou

May 9, 2016

Fading headwinds open way for Paradise to start slow recovery

Paradise, Korea’s largest foreigners-only casino operator, may show a gradual rebound in the latter half of the year, following strong headwinds faced by the country’s casino industry last year. The recovery of Paradise, which runs casinos in three major cities in Korea and on Jejudo Island, will continue at “a modest pace” this year and its new resort Paradise City, which is under construction in Incheon, will help the company to attract more VIPs from 2017, analysts said.The headquarters of Pa

May 2, 2016

BOK takes stance against Korean QE

A high-ranking official at the Bank of Korea said Friday that social consensus is needed for the central bank to pump money into policy banks, voicing caution on President Park Geun-hye-backed “Korean-style quantitative easing” proposal.  “If policy banks need injection of capital to support corporate restructuring, that is primarily a fiscal policy issue, (not a monetary policy one),” said Yoon Myun-shik, assistant governor during a press briefing. “For the central bank to exercise its money-is

April 29, 2016

Shinhan Financial leads in Q1 earnings

First-quarter earnings reports show Shinhan Financial Group cementing its lead in the local banking sector, with a 30 percent increase in net profits. The group’s net profit in the January-March period stood at 771.4 billion won ($670.7 million), up 30.3 percent from the same period last year, the company said in a regulatory filing last week. From three months earlier, the tally marked a spike of 90.9 percent. “Improvements in banking, with a pickup in the net interest margin, had a big role (i

April 24, 2016

KEB Hana, Woori chosen as won clearing house in China

The Bank of Korea said Tuesday that it has appointed branches of KEB Hana Bank and Woori Bank in Shanghai, China, as clearing houses for won-yuan direct trading when the market opens. The envisioned currency market in Shanghai, scheduled to launch within the first half of this year, is Korea’s maiden step to allow offshore trading of its currency. China is Korea’s biggest trading partner, accounting for some 25 percent of its exports. Hana Financial Group (Yonhap)In Seoul, the won-yuan market op

April 12, 2016

Calls for new stimulus grow as growth outlook darkens

Calls are growing for Korea to take bolder steps to support the economy, after a string of recent economic data indicated that Asia’s fourth-largest economy may be in for a rougher than expected ride this year. Private experts, increasingly doubtful of the government-projected recovery path for the economy, are slashing their forecasts for Korea’s economic growth in 2016. Local think tanks and foreign investment banks now predict that the economy, as measured by gross domestic product, will grow

March 27, 2016

Insurers most profitable among Korean financials in 2015

Insurance companies raked in the most profits in the financial sector last year, largely boosted by investment-related earnings and non-operating profits, industry data showed Sunday.The combined net incomes of Korean insurers stood at 6.3 trillion won in 2015, followed by 3.5 trillion won for banks and 3.2 trillion won for securities firms, according to preliminary earnings reported to the Financial Services Commission and regulatory filings with the Financial Supervisory Service.Banks suffered

March 27, 2016

Shinhan Financial eyes fintech, global expansion

Shinhan Financial Group chairman Han Dong-woo said that it will focus on financial technology, or fintech, and global expansion this year.Chairman Han revealed the plan after his financial group revealed a net profit of 2.4 trillion won ($2.06 billion) in 2015, the highest of its kind in the domestic financial industry. The company has surpassed the 2 trillion won mark in profits for two consecutive years. Shinhan Financial Group chairman Han Dong-woo speaks at a forum in Seoul in January. (Shin

March 24, 2016

FSC to promote independent financial advisors

The Financial Services Commission is expected to devise a policy that enables financial professionals to start their own investment advisory ventures, in the second half of this year, according to the country’s regulators on Sunday.The FSC will seek to introduce a revised law to boost independent financial advisory services in the local capital market for legislation by the end of May.The IFA revision will allow employees of financial services companies to set up and operate investment advisory

March 20, 2016

Nexon Korea acquires U.S. game developer

Nexon Korea, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Nexon, a major player in the Asian gaming market, has acquired U.S.-based Big Huge Games for an undisclosed fee in a move to expand its global footprint.“Combining Big Huge Games’ skilled workforce and game development capabilities with Nexon’s global publishing expertise will enable us to consistently provide DomiNations players with fresh content and engaging experiences in the long term,” the company said. Prior to the acquisition, the two companies wo

March 11, 2016

Woori Bank to invest W2b in national crowdfunding program

Woori Bank said Tuesday it will spend 2 billion won ($1.66 million) in the first national crowdfunding program to support small and medium-sized start-ups and facilitate crowdfunding sentiment in the local market.“K-Crowd Fund” is the first national fund to support the Growth Ladder Fund, a government-funded program linking new start-ups with venture capital and other financial firms. Woori Bank will invest in Magellan Technology Investment, one of the three operators of the 20 billion won K-Cro

March 10, 2016

Financial regulators issue warning to Lotte, Hana on poor customer management

Korea’s financial regulator has issued a warning to two local credit card companies -- Hana Card and Lotte Card -- ordering them to improve their customer management system, particularly with regard to money laundering.Corporate logo of Hana Card (Hana Card)This comes after the Financial Supervisory Service reviewed their operations last year and uncovered some “defects.”“We did not enforce disciplinary measures against the two card companies, but issued a warning about their systems, ordering t

March 9, 2016

[Newsmaker]Ugly succession battle taints Lotte founder’s legacy

Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho often used to say he dreamt of building a landmark skyscraper that represented the country’s dramatic economic achievement and cultural prosperity -- his vision behind the construction of the tallest building in Korea. However, according to industry insiders, the 123-story Lotte World Tower was actually built to glorify his own success story -- a self-made man who turned himself into a tycoon of a 90-trillion-won ($74.5 billion) business empire.Putting his legacy

March 8, 2016