[THE INVESTOR  South Korean biopharmaceutical companies are shifting their focus to biosimilars of cancer treatment drugs as a number of blockbuster originals hit the patent cliff, according to the industry on Sept. 5. Samsung Bioepis will seek approval for breast cancer treatment SB3 from European Medicines Agency within this month. Its reference drug Herceptin has recorded US$6.8 billion sales in 2015 and its patent expired in 2014. The company also found that SB3 is equally effective for gast

Sept. 6, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] Korea Trade Insurance Corp. announced on Sept. 6 that it will provide 221 billion won (US$200 million) project financing for Samsung C&T’s biomass power station project in UK. Samsung C&T has formed a consortium and won the turnkey contract to build the plant worth 958 billion won, and its stake is about one-fourth of the project. The public insurer will offer mid- to long-term insurance for the construction of the 299-megawatt combined heat and power plant, said to be the largest

Sept. 6, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] Korea Development Bank announced on Sept. 6 that it will fund 100 million euros for Samsung C&T’s project to build a hospital in Turkey.It is underwritten by the bank’s US$1 billion multilateral development bank special fund created in May to support South Korean companies in winning orders to build infrastructure in developing countries. The special fund is co-financed by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and export credit agencies including Korea Trade Insurance Corp. and thi

Sept. 6, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] SK Telecom announced on Sept. 6 that its media platform providing subsidiary ENTRIX and Intel Korea have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation to jointly develop solution and server for media cloud. The two companies will incorporate the cloud streaming solution of SKT’s wholly owned subsidiary with Intel’s Xeon processor, so that they can provide better data traffic and bigger storage with less power consumption. They are seeking to complete the development by the e

Sept. 6, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] Mirae Asset Capital announced on Sept. 5 that it has decided to increase capital by 250 billion won (US$226.26 million).The financing arm of Mirae Asset Financial Group will issue 7,302,254 shares at 34,236 won per share and offer to its affiliate Mirae Asset Global Investments. This is in accordance with the Specialized Credit Financial Business Act revised in March that limits the stake held by a financial firm in its affiliate to 150 percent of its equity capital. Mirae Asset F

Sept. 6, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] Kolon Industries announced on Sept. 5 that it has acquired the air bag sewing division of Hanyoung Industry for about 17 billion won (US$15.23 million). The sewing factory in Vietnam produces 7 million air bag cushions a year, and will serve as an operating base for the manufacturing affiliate of Kolon Group that seeks to tackle fast-rising air bag markets in Asia.The company decided to invest in its first Chinese factory in Nanjing so that it can produce an additional 600,000 fro

Sept. 5, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] Ilyang Pharmaceutical has signed an agreement to export its technology for its new ulcer treatment Noltec to Russia’s largest pharmaceutical company R-Pharm, the company announced on Sept. 5.The South Korean pharmaceutical company developed ilaprazole -- trade name Noltec -- in 2008 and the drug’s turnover in the first half of this year reached 6 billion won (US$5.42 million), a 7.2 percent rise from the same period last year. The US$200 million contract includes exclusive supply

Sept. 5, 2016

[THE INVESTOR]  NHN Entertainment announced on Sept. 5 that it will invest US$4.5 million in Finnish game developer Critical Force Entertainment and publish its next game “Critical Ops” in Asia. The company was established in 2012 and its first game “Critical Strike”, a first-person shooter, was downloaded over 40 million times worldwide. This investment signifies the expansion of the team and provides additional growth momentum to lay out the strategy to lead the mobile e-sports industry, said

Sept. 5, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] Moody’s Investors Service announced on Sept. 2 that it has downgraded the credit rating of POSCO Engineering & Construction to “Ba1," a level down from “Baa3”. The rating outlook remains “stable." “The downgrade follows the large losses that POSCO E&C reported for H1 2016, because of the cost overruns at its steel plant in Brazil,” said Joe Morrison, vice president and senior credit officer at the international ratings agency, adding that “the company is also vulnerable to potenti

Sept. 2, 2016