K Auction, South Korea’s second-largest auction house by revenue, said Wednesday that it plans to go public early next year, having submitted a prospectus for a 32 billion-won ($26 million) listing on the junior Kosdaq exchange. K Auction expects to offer 1.6 million shares at an indicative range of 17,000-20,000 per share, which would raise between 27 billion won and 32 billion won. The company said it will finalize the price range by December after consulting with institutional investor

Industry Dec. 15, 2021

Busan started its campaign Tuesday to host the Expo 2030 world fair at a virtual meeting convened by the organizing body Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), Busan Metropolitan City said. Busan -- one of five cities including Rome, Moscow, Odessa and Riyadh to have submitted the bid -- was the first city to make its case online. The Busan mayor leading the Korean delegation proposed holding the fair under the theme: “The era of great change: Sailing toward a better future.”

Economy Dec. 14, 2021

About half of the highest-earning South Korean companies have no investment plans for next year as they battle “uncertainty” around the omicron coronavirus variant and the disruptions the pandemic has caused, a local think tank said Monday. According to the Korea Economic Research Institute, 49 percent of the 101 companies that responded to the survey said they either do not plan to make new investments in 2022 or have yet to come up with one, citing an uncertain economic outlook.

Economy Dec. 13, 2021

South Korea’s top financial policymaker said Thursday that he is seeking to work with other government bodies to prevent monopolistic practices by big tech companies holding vast amounts of personal data while promoting financial companies’ investment in financial technology.　 The remark came amid growing concerns over the market dominance of Naver Financial and Kakao Pay -- the fintech services offered by the country’s largest internal portal and messenger app operator,

Economy Dec. 9, 2021

South Korean stocks rebounded Wednesday on foreign buying amid growing hopes that the omicron variant would not derail a global economic recovery. Analysts in Seoul also said that stocks will shake off their pandemic-caused weakness early next year when supply disruptions are resolved. The main benchmark Kospi closed at 3001.80, up 0.34 percent from a day earlier, surpassing the 3,000-mark again for the first time since Nov. 24. The junior tech-heavy Kosdaq closed at 1006.04, up 0.94 percent f

Market Dec. 8, 2021

South Korea’s Krafton, the company behind megahit video game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, said Tuesday it would help secure investment of 13 billion won ($11 million) for Tamatem, a leading mobile game publisher in the Middle East and North Africa. The Korean game developer, which has already invested 7 billion won in the Jordan-based publisher, will work with investors like Venture Souq and Endeavor Catalyst to deliver the funding. Tamatem is one of the three major publishers in

Industry Dec. 7, 2021

Mirae Asset Securities said Monday that executive vice chairman Choi Hyun-man will take over the brokerage firm as chairman in what will be the company’s first move to tap a non-family member chief since it became the largest South Korean brokerage in 2016 when it merged with Daewoo Securities. Choi, a founding member of Mirae Asset Securities when it was set up in 1999, has been CEO at a number of key affiliates of Mirae Asset Financial Group, which along with brokerage provides comprehe

Market Dec. 6, 2021

South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have agreed to cut red tape in customs checks to boost trade, until they see the coronavirus pandemic subside, Korea’s Finance Ministry said Monday. Copies of a product’s certificate of origin will now be accepted for tariff cuts guaranteed under their free trade agreement that took effect in June 2007. The original certificates had been shipped late because of the pandemic. “Nearly 40,000 Korean firms exporting to AS

Economy Dec. 6, 2021

Shinhan Financial Group, South Korea’s second-largest financial company by market capitalization, is the first financial services firm in East Asia to have openly committed to carbon neutrality by 2050 -- a bold step in the global race to expand environmental, social and governance investment. “ESG investment poses an opportunity, not a risk, which means we should be able to take advantage of it,” Shinhan Chairman Cho Yong-byoung said, describing ESG investment as a vaccine th

Economy Dec. 6, 2021

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won met with Conni Jonsson, founder and chairperson of Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners, and discussed expanding ties on future industries, such as green energy and health care, officials said Sunday. In the meeting held Friday in Seoul, Chey told Jonsson about the conglomerate’s efforts in reducing carbon emissions, improving transparency in governance and creating both economic and social values, they said. “South Korea is a leader in hydrogen

Industry Dec. 5, 2021

High-income households in South Korea -- those who earn between 70 million won ($59,000) and 120 million won before tax annually -- saw their assets increase by 19 percent, or 150 million won on average, from last year, a study showed Sunday. According to the study conducted by Woori Financial Research Institute, which is run by Woori Financial Group, its 4,000 clients classified as “mass affluent” saw their assets rise to 917 million won on average.  The size of debt on avera

Economy Dec. 5, 2021

Growing fear over the omicron variant and sooner-than-expected tapering by the US Fed are weighing on the South Korean stock market, analysts said Wednesday, although some say it will take longer to gauge how the impact will play out here. The nation’s main bourse Kospi hit the lowest mark of the year on Tuesday, as short sellers dumped about 1 trillion won ($848 million) on the Kospi and the junior, tech-heavy Kosdaq in their second largest sell-off this year. Stocks rebounded Wednesd

Market Dec. 1, 2021

ESG and impact investment will offer a new way for investors to make financial returns while leaving a positive, social and environmental impact, and South Korea hopes to spread the practice of “responsible investment,” Korea Investment Corporation CEO Jin Seoung-ho said Tuesday. The chief of the country’s sovereign wealth fund said ESG investment, which looks at environmental, social and governance factors, and impact investment, which aims to make money and measureable socia

Economy Nov. 30, 2021

The total amount of land foreigners held as of June this year rose 1.3 percent, compared to December last year, to 256.7 square kilometers. That is equivalent to 0.2 percent of South Korea’s entire land area, according to the Land Ministry on Friday. The total value was 31.6 trillion won ($26.5 billion). Foreign ownership spiked in 2014 and 2015, jumping 6 percent and 9.6 percent on-year respectively, but the annual increase has remained between 1 and 3 percent since then. US nationals

Economy Nov. 26, 2021

The Export-Import Bank of Korea said Friday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea National Oil to offer the state-run oil company financial support worth about 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion). KNOC, established in 1979 after the energy crisis in the 1970s to oversee oil storage businesses for the country, will use the fund to invest in overseas oil exploration and production, while working to find new energy sources like wind power, the company said. “We expect to cre

Economy Nov. 26, 2021