[THE INVESTOR] Lotte Group is actively seeking to strengthen its presence in Vietnamese real estate market. Lotte Asset Development announced on Oct. 21 that it has decided to acquire 10 percent stake in Lotte Properties (Hanoi) Singapore for 16.32 billion won (US$14.43 million), to develop and manage real estate properties in Hanoi. It already operates Lotte Center Hanoi since 2014, the group’s first overseas complex. “Lotte affiliates as well as local partners will invest and acquire remaining

Oct. 21, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] The world’s largest asset management company BlockRock has acquired 5.13 percent stake each inPOSCO andShinhan Financial Group, according to Financial Supervisory Service’s data on Oct. 20.BlackRock Fund Advisors and 14 others in special relationship reported that they have newly acquired 4,415,820 shares of POSCO and 24,320,723 shares of Shinhan Financial Group. South Korea’s largest steelmaker has shown the best performance since the second quarter in 2013. Its operating profit

Oct. 21, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] SM Entertainment’s third-quarter operating profit will fall 34 percent to 7.5 billion won (US$6.63 million) from the same period last year, and standalone sales will be down 7 percent to 54.7 billion won, according to Shinhan Investment on Oct. 21. In addition to the revenue from albums, downloads and appearances, “concerts including EXO’s seven, Yesung’s three, Taeyeon’s three in Korea as well as SHINee’s Japan concert with 430,000 attendance, will boost its bottom line. The comp

Oct. 21, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] YG Entertainment’s operating profit in the third quarter will hike 27 percent to 7 billion won (US$6.19 million) and revenue will jump 55 percent to 74.1 billion won in the third quarter, according to Shinhan Investment on Oct. 21.“Concerts should drive top-line growth: Big Bang is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a concert in Japan with attendance of 280,000, 10 in China and one in Korea; iKon has four tours in Asia; and Sechs Kies has two. Sales contribution should increase

Oct. 21, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] Lotte Group is in talks with Lahore PepsiCo, a bottling company of Pepsi-Cola in Pakistan, to take over a major stake, according to news reports on Oct. 20.The South Korean conglomerate acknowledged that it positively reviewing the acquisition, unlike in February when it said it is merely one of the candidates available for merger.Lotte has an agreement with Pepsi for manufacturing and distribution in South Korea since 1976 through Lotte Chilsung Beverage. It also owns 34.4 percen

Oct. 21, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] KB Financial Group reported on Oct. 20 that it more than met the market expectations with a 564.4 billion won (US$503.75 million) net profit in the third quarter. The net profit between January and September reached 1.69 trillion won, a 25.1 percent hike on-year. Despite the lower base rate since June, it succeeded in offsetting it by lowering the interest expense by 14.1 percent. Its total assets increased by 9.2 percent from the end of 2015 to 489.8 trillion won as of the end of

Oct. 20, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] POSCO Daewoo’s stock price will continue to recover as the oil price is stable, according to Mirae Asset Daewoo on Oct. 20. The securities firm maintained a “buy” recommendation and raised the target price to 32,000 won (US$28.56) from 30,000 won. Its revenue in the third quarter will decline 4 percent to 4.01 trillion won, and operating profit by 4.5 percent to 83.9 billion won on-year, forecast Ryu Je-hyeon, an analyst at Mirae Asset Daewoo. Although the operating profit from th

Oct. 20, 2016