A panel discussion was held on June 15 to shed light on the problems of the merger between Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. (HHIC) and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME).The meeting was organized by Min Hyung-bae and Lee Jung-moon, lawmakers of the Democratic Party, Seo Il-joon, a lawmake
As Edtech startups continue to rake in investment with the newfound demand for remote learning, Ringle, the South Korea-based provider of one-on-one English tutoring lessons and a member of Born2Global Centre, has raised US$18 million Series A funding led by Must Asset Management. The company starte
SPC Group announced on June 9 that it has opened its first Paris Baguette Cambodia store in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, along with its local partner HSC Group.Cambodia has become the sixth country that Paris Baguette enters. The Phnom Penh store is the first joint-venture store SPC Group ha
The Korea CXO Institute announced on June 8 that 71 major business groups in South Korea are governing 4,703 overseas subsidiaries in 124 countries and these include approximately 730 located in what are regarded as tax havens. The 71 groups have assets of more than five trillion won each.The 4,703
Coupang seems to have selected Japan as its first overseas market. Currently, the company is offering a pilot service in some areas of Tokyo. However, the service is different from that in Korea. It is not a "rocket-speed delivery" that arrives on the next day of an order; it is a service that puts
The authors are analysts of Shinhan Investment Corp. They can be reached at jwsung79@shinhan.com and hanny.lee@shinhan.com, respectively. -- Ed. April domestic duty-free sales up 9.6% MoMCombined sales of domestic duty-free operators came in at USD1.39bn (+9.6% MoM; KRW1.56tr) for April. Duty-free s
Korean shipbuilders are stepping up their efforts to win orders for offshore plants whose demand is on the recovery amid rising oil prices.Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) is expected to sign a contract to build a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit (P-79) with Braz
Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon met with British Ambassador to South Korea Simon Smith on May 28 and discussed matters of mutual interest.During the meeting, Park thanked the U.K. envoy for visiting Busan to congratulate him on his inauguration as new Busan mayor. "There has been no exchange between Bus
Masayoshi Son, chairman of Japan's SoftBank Group, has picked Yanolja as a Korean venture company that can become the next Coupang. Son is expected to invest two trillion won to grow Yanolja into a global accommodation and travel platform and directly list it in the U.S. stock market.Son’s Visio
Hyundai Motor Co. and LG Energy Solution are expected to announce the establishment of a joint venture electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Indonesia as early as next month.The two companies will jointly invest about 1 trillion won to 1.3 trillion won to build a plant with an annual production cap
HMM, Lotte Fine Chemical, Lotte Global Logistics, POSCO, Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering and Korean Register of Shipping formed a consortium and signed a memorandum of understanding on May 25 for the purpose of marine transport and bunkering of green ammonia.These days, the importance of a
The Financial Services Commission is planning to revise the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act so that ETFs listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange can be sold in South Korea within this year. The commission explained that this measure is to provide more investment opportunities. At
MBK Partners chairman Kim Byung-ju recently joined an online forum of the Alternative Investments Society (AIS) of the London School of Economics and Political Science. There, he mentioned South Korea’s dynamism, China’s huge domestic market and Japan’s accumulated wealth and economic scale as Asia’
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at ryan.ra@nhqv.com. – Ed. At the medical device division, centering on Rejuran and Conjuran, Pharma Research enjoyed a sixth consecutive quarter of sales increase. Both at home and abroad, the strong popularity of Rejuran sus
Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) announced on May 11 that it has signed a 2.5-trillion-won contract to build one floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit for Petrobras, Brazil. The Korean shipbuilder will carry out the project together with Keppel Shipyard of Singapore.
SK Inc., the holding company of SK Group, announced on May 11 that it has invested an additional 40 billion won in SolidEnergy Systems, a U.S. company developing next-generation lithium metal batteries.SK Inc. made its first equity investment of 30 billion won in 2018. The company will secure its po
Handok Inc., a Korean pharmaceutical company, announced on May 10 that it has licensed out its Pan-TRK inhibition anti-cancer drug technology to Singaporean pharmaceutical company AUM Biosciences Pte Ltd. for US$86.25 million.The contract is a multilateral contract signed among Handok, CMG Pharmaceu
KB Kookmin Bank announced on May 3 that it has obtained preliminary approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for the establishment of a branch in Singapore.The Korean lender has won a wholesale bank license. The branch will be able to handle all businesses, including corporate finance, inve
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at dongyang.kim@nhqv.com. -- Ed. We view expectations towards mid/long term earnings growth at Hyundai Autoever’s strategic businesses as remaining valid in line with accelerating digital transformations at clients. A recent t
KB Kookmin Bank announced on April 29 that it has successfully issued five-year senior secured sustainable bonds worth US$500 million on April 28.The coupon rate is 1.406 percent, 55bp added to the U.S. five-year government bond rate. The bank said this is the lowest rate ever among the global bonds