POSCO, the nation’s top steelmaker, on Wednesday offloaded its shares in POSFINE, a slag powder producer, to a local private equity fund for an estimated 30 billion won ($27.5 million), industry sources said.Under the deal, POSCO sold its 69.22 percent stake in POSFINE to Hahn & Co. The move came two months after POSCO had opened talks with the fund in line with its reorganization efforts.Hahn & Co. also reportedly plans to acquire the remaining shares in POSFINE from Tongyang Cement & Energy Co

Industry Jan. 1, 2015

Dongbu Construction, a financially troubled construction arm of South Korea’s 18th-largest conglomerate Dongbu Group, said Wednesday it has filed for court receivership.“Our company has applied for the court receivership program with the Seoul Central District Court,” Dongbu said in its regulatory filing. Dongbu Group, whose business portfolio ranges from insurance and construction to steelmaking, has been under pressure from its creditors to beef up its worsening financial status.The builder ha

Industry Jan. 1, 2015

South Korea’s exports rose to a record high last year with the country’s overall trade volume also climbing to a new all-time high, the government said Thursday.South Korea’s overall exports came to $573.1 billion in 2014, up 2.4 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Imports gained 2 percent on-year to about $525.7 billion. The country‘s trade surplus also rose to a new high of $47.4 billion.It marked the fourth consecutive year the country’s ove

Industry Jan. 1, 2015

KORAIL, the nation’s railway operator, announced on Wednesday it will launch a bid to offload its railroad unit Incheon International Airport Railroad as part of its efforts to reduce debt. The state-run enterprise and its financial investor Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance seeks to sell their combined 90.1 percent ownership of the debt-ridden railway line, connecting the airport with Seoul Station, whose value is estimated at 4 trillion won ($ 3.6 billion), including 2 trillion in debt. “The res

Industry Jan. 1, 2015

The chief financial regulator said Thursday that tackling household debts would take priority in government policies next year, along with economic reform to improve the fundamentals of the economy and sharpen competitiveness.“Restructuring of household debt is a top priority for financial stability in 2015,” Financial Services Commission chairman Shin Je-yoon said in a New Year’s message.“We’ve set 2015 policy guidelines in order to improve the quality of household debts.”South Korea’s family l

Industry Jan. 1, 2015

Korea and New Zealand on Monday initialed their free trade agreement, negotiations for which concluded on Nov. 15, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said. “The FTA was initialed in Wellington by South Korean Deputy Trade Minister Choi Kyong-lim and New Zealand Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade David Walker,’’ a ministry official said. Initialing of a free trade pact means that the two parties confirm every word on each page is final and will not be subject to changes before

Industry Dec. 22, 2014

South Korea’s oil import prices are estimated to have fallen to their lowest in nearly four years last month as international prices plummeted, the Korea National Oil Corp. said Sunday.South Korea brought in 74.47 million barrels of crude oil in October at an average of $93.75 per barrel, KNOC’s statistics showed. This is a 15.5 percent markdown from $111 in the same month last year and is the lowest price since January 2011. It is also the first time that the price has fallen to under $100 sinc

Industry Dec. 21, 2014

Nearly half of South Korea’s conglomerates said they will tighten their belts next year while smaller companies hoped to keep their business status quo, a poll showed Sunday.In the poll conducted by the Korea Employers Federation on 228 companies, 51.4 percent of the leading large firms responded they will seek tight management for 2015, up 11.8 percentage points from a year earlier.As for the 158 small and medium-sized companies, 46.6 percent said they will keep the status quo next year. Only 1

Industry Dec. 21, 2014

The South Korean chief financial regulator said Sunday that he will remove hurdles to the fast-growing financial technology and fully support the sector to refresh the country’s long-sluggish financial industry.“I will change the paradigm of regulation on fintech,” Financial Services Commission chairman Shin Je-yoon told reporters. “I will minimize preregistering requirements, and at the same time clarify liability and maximize consumer protection and information security.”Fintech is a new type

Industry Dec. 21, 2014

SK Chemicals, a petrochemical unit of South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK Group, said Sunday it has received a donation of $4.9 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for its project to develop a vaccine for typhoid fever.The company said the fund will be used on joint clinical testing of the vaccine through September 2017 with the International Vaccine Institute, an international organization set up in 1997 by the United Nations Development Program devoted to fighting diseases

Industry Dec. 21, 2014

LG Electronics, currently in the middle of a legal dispute with rival Samsung Electronics after being accused of vandalizing Samsung products at German shops earlier this year, said Sunday it would take the local competitor to court for defamation and forging evidence.LG executive Jo Seong-jin, one of the company officials accused in the case, said he would comply with a prosecution summons for questioning next month.Samsung in September asked the prosecution to investigate senior executives of

Industry Dec. 21, 2014