MANAMA, Bahrain – Strengthening its partnership with Bahrain would open a door of opportunities in the Middle East for South Korea, an investment forum held by the Gulf island nation's economic board suggested. Bahrain hosted the second edition of Gateway Gulf on Sunday and Monday. This year’s Gateway Gulf was held six years after the inaugural edition in 2018. Arranged by the Bahrain Economic Development Board, it was held under the theme of “Investing in a Rapidly Transf

Economy Nov. 5, 2024

Global commercial real estate services provider Cushman & Wakefield is looking to expand its Korean client pool for overseas deals, while riding on the wave of demand for properties in Seoul, according to its Korea and Japan chief. “Seoul is definitely in the tier one bucket, where we want to focus a lot of our investment, growth and make sure we continue to have a larger and a very strong platform,” Todd Olson, executive managing director of North Asia at Cushman & Wakefield

Industry Nov. 2, 2024

Korea Zinc’s decision to execute a 2.5 trillion won ($1.8 billion) paid-in capital increase has come under the scrutiny of financial authorities. The country’s financial watchdog views there could be a possibility of unfair practice in a potential overlap in the period. “The Financial Supervisory Service will look into whether there had been any illegality in the execution of Korea Zinc’s tender offer and paid-increase,” Ham Yong-il, the deputy chair at the watchdog

Market Oct. 31, 2024

Arbitration can be a powerful tool to resolve the rising number of disputes related to private equity investments, according to a seminar jointly hosted by leading law firms from South Korea and the US. Kim & Chang, South Korea’s leading law firm, and US law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP held a joint seminar on arbitrating private equity disputes in southern Seoul on Monday. The event kicked off with lawyer Jeffrey Sullivan from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP explaining how private e

Industry Oct. 29, 2024

The first round of the power struggle over the world’s largest zinc smelter, Korea Zinc, has wrapped up without a solid winner, the results of a tender offer launched by the company's management showed Monday. The dispute is expected to continue as both sides have failed to secure a majority stake in the company. The current management of Korea Zinc, represented by Chairman Choi Yun-beom, secured an additional 2.33 million shares in the company through a tender offer that closed Wedne

Industry Oct. 28, 2024

Woori Financial Group announced Friday its cumulative net profit stood at 2.65 trillion won ($1.9 billion), marking a 9.1 percent surge from the same period last year. The figure surpasses last year’s yearly earnings of 2.5 trillion won. The financial service provider posted 903 billion won net income in the third quarter, marking a 0.6 percent increase year-on-year. The figure is slightly higher than the market estimate of around 890 billion won. Cumulatively, the year-to-date net profit

Industry Oct. 25, 2024

Shinhan Financial Group, one of the country's top financial providers, posted lower-than-expected earnings for the July-September quarter, hit by the derivative fiasco from its brokerage arm. The financial group announced Friday that its net profit for the third quarter recorded 1.23 trillion won ($885 million), marking a 3.9 percent increase year-on-year. The figure, however, is slightly lower than the market forecast of around 1.3 trillion won. It also lost 186.9 billion won or 13.1 perce

Industry Oct. 25, 2024

The Korean government is to tighten the monitoring of cross-border trading of virtual assets, including cryptocurrency, through a revised law set for enactment by the latter half of 2025. "The government will push for the revision of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act related to virtual assets through discussions with relevant departments and legislation, with the aim to implement the changed measures within the latter half of next year,” Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said at a pr

Industry Oct. 25, 2024

Shares of Korea Zinc, the world’s largest zinc smelter, jumped almost 30 percent on Thursday amid speculation that the prolonged power struggle between the current management and the MBK Partners-Young Poong coalition could push the share price up further in the coming weeks. The shares of Korea Zinc closed at 1.13 million won ($825), up 262,000 won or 29.91 percent from the previous day, hitting the upper circuit limit. The uptick comes after the tender offer of the current management clo

Market Oct. 24, 2024

London-based hedge fund Palliser Capital was recently found to have held a stake of more than 1 percent in SK Square, the investment arm of SK Group, for years, triggering speculation about another round of activist campaigns against the nation’s second-largest conglomerate. According to industry sources on Thursday, the fund -- founded by Chief Investment Officer James Smith, who previously worked at Elliott Investment Management -- held several meetings with SK Square executives recently

Industry Oct. 24, 2024

Hana Financial Group said Tuesday that it is ramping up efforts to offer more tailor-made services for senior customers under the new brand name Hana The Next. The new launch, a collaboration of its key affiliates including Hana Bank, Hana Securities and Hana Insurance, will cover both financial and non-financial areas from retirement planning to consultations on inheritance and gift taxes to health care. The first customer is TV celebrity Kang Ho-dong, who has also been named as the brand ambas

Industry Oct. 22, 2024

The recent inclusion on the World Government Bond Index, a global benchmark for bond investments, proves South Korea is headed in the right direction in its efforts to improve its foreign exchange market, an official from the Finance Ministry said Monday. On Oct. 9, the Financial Times Stock Exchange Russell announced that Korea has been added to the WGBI. The inclusion came more than two years after Korea was put on the watchlist in September 2022. In the announcement, FTSE Russell stated that

Economy Oct. 21, 2024

Iranian lender Bank Mellat may have to consider pulling its operations out of South Korea with its hands tied here due to the looming fears of secondary boycott actions from the US. “With the upcoming US presidential election, the pressure on Iran will only escalate. Bank Mellat may have to consider closing its operations in Korea,” an official from Bank Mellat’s Seoul branch said. The official explained the Seoul unit has not been able to fully operate, as Korean companies, in

Industry Oct. 20, 2024

Hanwha Investment & Securities, under the wings of South Korea's defense-to-energy conglomerate Hanwha Group, announced Thursday, that it has completed the acquisition of Indonesia’s Ciptadana Securities. Completion of the deal comes over a year after the brokerage house signed an underwriting agreement to acquire an 80 percent stake in Ciptadana Securities for around 49 billion won ($35.7 million) in June 2023. It won final approval from the Indonesian financial authorities last

Industry Oct. 17, 2024

London-based activist investor Palliser Capital is on its way to challenge South Korean chip-to-energy conglomerate SK Group, having secured a stake of over 1 percent in its investment arm SK Square. Having built a stake in SK Square over the past two years, the British activist fund is pushing for changes in the company to improve its market valuation, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Though SK Square is the holding company of the group’s key chip-making affiliate SK hy

Industry Oct. 16, 2024