Deregulatory moves by financial authorities to allow South Korean conglomerates to own corporate venture capital firms have raised concerns over the manifold consequences of such a scheme. The Finance Ministry is set to unveil plans next month to revise the law so that Korean equivalents of Alphabet-backed GV -- formerly known as Google Ventures -- can be launched. The revision of the Fair Trade Act is expected to make significant changes in the history of corporate environment that has banned

Market June 28, 2020

What surprised John Lee, a former Wall Street fund manager who returned home six years ago, was the widespread perception among South Korean retail investors that real estate is a much safer option for investments than stocks, which they considered too risky. Six years on, things have changed, particularly in recent months with a massive inflow of retail investors to the local stock market, said Lee, now CEO of Seoul-based Meritz Asset Management. “They have learned lessons,” he sai

Market June 25, 2020

South Korea’s investment house Optimus Asset Management froze two more feeder funds worth a combined 29.7 billion won ($24.75 million) Wednesday, as prosecutors started to look into fraud allegations against the troubled asset manager. At the same time, Korea’s top financial regulator vowed to carry out a thorough inspection of all privately pooled funds here in a preemptive move to protect fund investors. Optimus on Wednesday notified NH Investment & Securities that the fund

Market June 24, 2020

Celltrion co-founder and Chairman Seo Jung-jin said Tuesday the biosimilar firm’s novel coronavirus vaccine development is on its way as scheduled, expressing confidence that the treatment will become marketable once clinical trials are complete. As one of some 200 drug developers in the world in the race to develop a treatment for COVID-19, Celltrion is poised to go through a human clinical trial with its drug candidate on July 16, following tests on lab animals such as hamsters and monk

Market June 23, 2020

Swedish public pension fund AP7 has added SK Holdings, a South Korean company at the apex of SK conglomerate’s governance structure, to its blacklist of companies to be excluded from its investment universe, its recent report showed Monday. SK Holdings was one of three firms added in the latest move, along with Canadian cannabinoid firm Cronos Group and Egyptian electrical company Elsewedy Electric, according to the blacklist updated as of June 15. According to the report by the institu

Market June 22, 2020

BlackRock Investment Management Korea said in a filing Sunday its incumbent CEO Choi Man-yeon is set to extend his term by two years, starting June 27. Choi has headed the Korean arm of the world’s largest asset management firm since 2014. His three-year term at the top post was renewed in 2017. Choi formerly headed sales at Schroder Investment Management’s Korean unit. The filing also showed that, along with Choi, his colleague Graham Turl will serve his term until 2023 as

Market June 21, 2020

South Korea’s Optimus Asset Management is being probed by financial authorities over allegations that it had breached contracts with fund investors in its portfolio construction. Investors in the privately placed funds appear to be wary of what could trigger another financial fiasco following ones surrounding disgraced fund management firms including Lime Asset Management. The Financial Supervisory Service on Friday launched an investigation on the Seoul-based investment house to examin

Market June 21, 2020

Since its inception in 2015, robo-investing has emerged as a tool with the potential to minimize the impact of market volatility in South Korea. The profitability of this investment method -- based on computerized data analysis, not human instinct -- has been questioned. But the time has come, unexpectedly, to prove who is correct. The catalyst is the coronavirus outbreak that has been rattling the stock market at home and abroad. According to market data tracker FnGuide, 17 robo-investing fu

Market June 20, 2020

Korea Development Bank, South Korea’s policy lender, on Wednesday refused to support the liquidity-stricken SsangYong Motor using its bailout fund of 40 trillion won ($32.95 billion) created to extend a lifeline to local companies suffering from the fallout of the novel coronavirus. “Money is not necessarily everything for a company’s survival,” KDB Chairman Lee Dong-gull told reporters at a teleconference. “It takes money for a company to get through hardships, bu

Market June 17, 2020

MP Group, the South Korean company that controls pizza restaurant franchise Mr. Pizza and coffee chain Manoffin, is seeking to sell a controlling stake through an open bidding process, its announcement showed Wednesday. Up for grabs will be a 48.92 percent stake in MP Group by founder and ex-chairman Jung Woo-hyun and owner families, as well as an undisclosed amount of new shares worth at least 20 billion won ($16.43 million). Proposals from potential buyers will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Ju

Market June 17, 2020

Seizure treatment developer SK Biopharmaceuticals said Monday it is planning what could be South Korea’s biggest initial public offering in three years, with hopes to raise nearly 1 trillion won ($822 million) in fresh funds. Through its market debut on the nation’s main bourse Kospi, scheduled July 2 if the IPO ends in success, the drug development unit of Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK plans to raise 959.34 billion won, which would be the largest fundraising attempt s

Market June 15, 2020

The Korea Exchange, an exchange operator where securities, derivatives and commodities are traded, said Sunday its daily average of gold transactions had doubled this year as investors sought safe assets and a tax benefit took hold in January. The KRX has been trading on average of 93.6 kilograms of gold per day on its spot market from January until June 11, up 114.8 percent from the 2019 average at 43.6 kilograms. At the same time, the spot gold price on the KRX surged 18 percent. Besides i

Market June 14, 2020

South Korea’s main stock bourse Kospi slipped 2 percent Friday in its biggest daily loss in over a month, as stock markets in the United States took another major blow due to resurfacing coronavirus woes. Kospi closed at 2,132.30 on Friday. Losers outnumbered gainers 720 to 160. As numbers of infections rose in some of the states that have reopened, including Texas and Arizona, both stocks and crude tumbled in the US on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 6.9 percent, S

Market June 12, 2020

　공유오피스 업체 위워크코리아가 (WeWork Korea) 전 직원을 상대로 희망퇴직 신청을 받았던 것으로 확인돼, 한국 사업 철수 수순에 들어간게 아니냐는 우려가 커지고 있다. 　업계 관계자들에 따르면, 위워크코리아는 지난주 희망퇴직 신청을 받기 시작했고, 일부 직원들은 이미 타 공유오피스 업체 등으로 이직을 제안 받거나, 고려 중이라고 전했다. 　위워크코리아는 작년에도 본사 차원의 구조조정의 일환으로 한국 지점내 커뮤니티 매니저 인력 감축을 단행했다. 　연이은 인력감축이 이어지자, 다른 한 관계자는 “위워크 본사에서 한국에서 철수하고 싶어하는 의지가 있는 것으로 파악된다”면서, 철수를 원하는 본사와 적자인 지점들을 정리하면서 사업을 유지할려는 위워크코리아간의 마찰이 있다고 말했다. 　 　이에 위워크코리아 측은 “전혀 사실이 아니다”라고 부인하면서도, 희망퇴직 신청에 대해선 “공식 입장은 없다”고 밝혔다.

한국어판 June 12, 2020

Shared working space operator WeWork’s Korean subsidiary has offered its employees a voluntary retirement last week as part of its restructuring plan, sources with knowledge about the matter told The Korea Herald on Thursday. “The voluntary retirement scheme was offered to the entire staff last week,” said a source on condition of anonymity. The scheme is in line with WeWork headquarters’ bid “to shut down the Korean operations,” another source told The Kor

Market June 11, 2020