Kakao names Nam Koong-whon as new CEO

Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, said Thursday it has named Nam Koong-whon as its new CEO following the resignations of two former nominees. Kakao said its board of directors accepted the resignation of incumbent co-CEO Yeo Min-soo, who was earlier named to lead the tech giant for another four years. Nam, who has served as the chief of Kakao's new organization aimed at finding new growth engines, will be officially named as the CEO during a board of di

Jan. 20, 2022

S. Korean investors' holdings of foreign securities hit new high in 2021

South Korean investors' holdings of foreign securities touched a new all-time high in 2021 on an overseas investment boom, data showed Thursday. Local investors had held overseas stocks and bonds worth $100.59 billion as of end-2021, up 39.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD). Of the total, South Koreans' ownership of overseas stocks came to $77.91 billion, 65.5 percent more than a year earlier. The value of US stocks held by South Ko

Jan. 20, 2022

Honda joins SES-led lithium-metal battery project

Honda has become the third global automaker after General Motors and Hyundai Motor to jointly develop next-generation electric vehicle batteries with SES, a Boston-based startup set to go public in the US this year. According to SES Thursday, the Japanese automaker agreed to acquire a 2 percent stake in the startup and jointly develop lithium-metal batteries, which are 30 percent more powerful than the strongest lithium-ion batteries in the market. “Honda has joined General Motors and

Jan. 20, 2022

Seoul stocks open tad higher on bargain hunting

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Thursday as investors sought to buy oversold stocks after the recent stock plunge. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 4.19 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,846.47 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks edged up after a choppy start, following the key stock index's four-day losing streak. Steel and chemical heavyweights led the gain. Steelmaker Posco added 2.64 percent, battery maker LG Chem advanced 1.23 percent, and SK In

Jan. 20, 2022

Producer prices nearly flat in December

South Korea's producer prices remained almost unchanged in December as an increase of prices in the service sector was offset by falling prices of manufactured goods, central bank data showed Thursday. The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, stood at 113.22 last month, compared with 113.23 the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It is the first time since October 2020 that the figure marked an on-month decline. Compared wit

Jan. 20, 2022

China's CITIC Capital invests in plant-based food company Organica

　CITIC Capital, a global investment company managing $16 billion worldwide, has invested in Organica, a plant-based food company in Korea, the companies said on Wednesday. 　It is the first case of CITIC Capital of China making a direct investment in a Korean company, they added. 　CITIC has shown interest in Organica’s vision for sustainability and its plant-based product lines, ranging from clean juices and snacks to ready-made meals, the Seoul-based company said. It aims to gain a glob

Jan. 19, 2022

Seoul stocks down for 5th session on rate hike concerns

South Korean stocks extended their losing streak to a fifth consecutive session Wednesday as rising US yields and rate hike forecast weighed on investor sentiment. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. After a choppy session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 21.96 points, or 0.77 percent, to close at 2,842.28 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 457 million shares worth some 9.6 trillion won ($8.1 billion), with losers far outnumbering gainers 653

Jan. 19, 2022

LG Energy Solution IPO draws record retail bids

Over 114 trillion won ($95.5 billion) in cash deposits from about 4.4 million retail investors flowed into a mega initial public offering by LG Energy Solution during a two-day subscription that ended Wednesday, reflecting explosive interest in the company’s market debut. The world’s second-largest battery maker has already attracted the highest amount of deposits from a total of 1,988 domestic and foreign institutional investors, which pledged some 15,000 trillion won in total to b

Jan. 19, 2022

Metaverse scramble exposes Samsung's software weakness

Samsung Electronics’ obsession for foldable smartphones is drawing market concerns as the South Korean tech giant is missing out on what’s coming next: The metaverse. According to market tracker Counterpoint Research Wednesday, Samsung remained as the No. 1 global smartphone brand by market share in 2021, but its smartphone business by sales grew just 0.9 percent on-year, drawing a big comparison with Apple’s 25.5 percent and Xiaomi’s 35.1 percent. Though growth has ap

Jan. 19, 2022

Lotte Group steps closer to Ministop Korea acquisition

Korea’s retail giant Lotte Group is highly likely to be picked as a preferred bidder to acquire the nation’s fifth-largest convenience store chain Ministop Korea, according to industry sources Wednesday. Lotte reportedly offered the highest bidding price -- 300 billion won ($251.5 million) -- possibly leaving out its crosstown rival Shinsegae Group in the heated race. “Since Lotte has outbid other contenders, there’s a 99.9 percent chance of Lotte becoming the prefer

Jan. 19, 2022

Minister warns against campaign pledges affecting home prices

SEJONG -- Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki raised the possibility that the housing market could be swayed by pledges of presidential candidates, and suggested he would try to block any speculative actions in particular regions via close monitoring. During a meeting of ministers in charge of real estate policies on Wednesday, Hong said there are symptoms that “home prices in some regions have been affected by pledges over large-scale development during the presidentia

Jan. 19, 2022

S. Korea, Saudi Arabia to bolster ties on hydrogen economy

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held a meeting in Riyadh Tuesday to bolster ties between the two countries beyond construction and infrastructure into more future-oriented fields such as hydrogen. During the talks, the two leaders agreed to build a hydrogen ecosystem where Saudi Arabia supplies carbon-neutral hydrogen and ammonia while South Korea helps the Arab nation operate hydrogen-powered cars and hydrogen facilit

Jan. 19, 2022

LG Electronics mulls Middle East HQ in Riyadh

In the face of the Saudi Arabian government’s pledge to attract foreign companies to relocate their regional headquarters to its capital city of Riyadh, LG Electronics is being pressured to move on par with other multinational companies. According to LG Electronics and news reports, the tech company, dedicated to manufacturing TVs, monitors, laptops and home appliances, is considering establishing regional headquarters that oversees its operation in the Middle East and Africa, covering s

Jan. 19, 2022

Korea to invest additional W400b in AI chips

The South Korean government said on Wednesday it will invest 402.7 billion won ($337.4 million) in the development of processing-in-memory (PIM) chips, in addition to the 1 trillion won it pledged earlier to spend on artificial intelligence semiconductors over nine years to 2029. PIM semiconductors are known as next-generation AI chips with higher processing efficiency. The Ministry of Science and ICT said it discussed ways to advance the AI industry with AI experts from Samsung Electronics, L

Jan. 19, 2022

Number of fake banknotes hits record low in 2021 amid pandemic

The number of fake South Korean banknotes touched a record low in 2021 due largely to the coronavirus pandemic, the central bank said Wednesday. The number of counterfeit banknotes found in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 176 last year, down 96 from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the lowest tally since the BOK began releasing such data in 1998. The number of fake bills has renewed record lows for four years running. The drop was mainly due to a decline

Jan. 19, 2022

Seoul stocks open lower on US tech plunge

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday, tracking an overnight plunge on Wall Street amid heightened expectations of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 19.22 points, or 0.67 percent, to 2,845.02 points in the first 15 minutes of trading.  On Tuesday (local time), the Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.51 percent, the S&P 500 went down 1.84 percent and the Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, de

Jan. 19, 2022

State pension fund cuts exposure to domestic shares in 2021

South Korea's state pension fund lowered its exposure to large cap and other domestic shares in 2021 in an apparent bid to boost returns and diversify its portfolio, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. The National Pension Service (NPS) held stakes of 5 percent or more in 265 companies listed on the country's major and secondary bourses as of end-2021, down 10 from a year earlier, according to CEO Score. Compared with two years earlier, the number was down as many as 49. Last year, the state

Jan. 19, 2022

Housing prices to further stabilize on monetary tightening: finance minister

Housing prices are expected to further stabilize due largely to the central bank's rate hikes and the Federal Reserve's push for faster monetary tightening, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday. Hong also voiced concerns that home prices in some regions could show signs of unstable movements due to presidential election candidates' campaign pledges on large-scale development. "Housing prices have recently stabilized," Hong said at a government meeting on the housing market. H

Jan. 19, 2022

Africa Finance Corp. secures new funders from South Korea, Dubai

Africa Finance Corp., which focuses on infrastructure across the continent, raised $400 million in a syndicated loan to bolster its balance sheet as the region seeks to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The three-year facility, the first by the development-finance institution since 2018, was 2.5 times oversubscribed and was increased from an initial target of $300 million, it said in a statement on Tuesday. While the funds mostly replaced maturing debt, the fund raising attracted new lende

Jan. 18, 2022

Korea Exchange decides to delist SillaJen

The Korea Exchange on Tuesday announced its decision to delist biotech company SillaJen, 20 months after the biotech company’s market transactions were stopped due to breach of trust and embezzlement charges. The stock market operator will hold a Kosdaq market committee within the next 20 business days to finalize whether it will push ahead with the delisting decision or give SillaJen a second chance at revival. Although the company can raise an objection to the market committee if it o

Jan. 18, 2022