Battery dispute settlement

SK agrees to pay $1.8 billion to LG, settles battery legal dispute

LG Energy Solution Ltd. and SK Innovation Co. have reached an 11th-hour agreement to end their two-year legal dispute in the US over trade secret inf...

Fighter jets

S.Korea rolls out next-generation fighter jet KF-21 with local technology

South Korea on Friday unveiled a prototype of its homegrown fighter jet, the KF-21, two decades after it vowed to develop a next-generation supersoni...

Steel industry

Dongkuk Steel’s Brazil plant: From ugly duckling to golden swan

For Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., South Korea’s third-largest steelmaker, Companhia Siderurgica do Pecem steel mill in Brazil, commonly known as CSP,...

IPOs

Samsung-backed semiconductor parts maker eyes IPO

MiCo Ceramics Ltd., a semiconductor equipment parts subsidiary of the industrial ceramics maker MiCo Co., is pushing forward with IPO preparations. T...

Chip shortage

Shares of chip machinery makers rise on foundry boom

South Korean manufacturers of chip production equipment have seen their share prices rising sharply, buoyed by a series of new orders received from g...

Platform valuations

Kakao Entertainment’s enterprise value seen above $8.9 billion

Kakao Entertainment Corp. is working to make a trading debut on the domestic bourse in the latter part of this year or in 2022 at the latest. And tha...

Content services

Iyuno-SDI Group raises $160 mn follow-on investment from SoftBank

Iyuno-SDI Group, a South Korean content localization firm, has received $160 million in funding from SoftBank Vision Fund 2, a follow-on investment t...

Telecom

KT to build high-speed satellite network in Indonesia

KT Sat Co., a satellite subsidiary of South Korea’s telecom giant KT Corp., will set up a high-speed satellite telecom network in Indonesia&rsq...

Block deal

Korea state agency sells $134 mn Woori Fin shares

The Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC) has reduced its stake in Woori Financial Group to 15.25% by selling 149.2 billion won ($134 million) worth o...

PE investments

Korean PE Centroid among shortlisted bidders for TaylorMade Golf

South Korea’s lesser-known private equity firm Centroid Investment Partners is among the shortlisted candidates for US sports equipment manufac...

[Exclusive] E-commerce

Kakao to buy fashion app, pushing aside eBay Korea

Kakao Corp., South Korea's top mobile messaging app operator, is set to acquire a majority stake in Zigzag, a domestic online fashion platform target...

Startups

Riiid makes list of world's 100 most promising AI firms

South Korea-based startup Riiid Inc. has been named to the annual AI 100 list issued by global market research firm CB Insights. The AI 100 is a list...

Cashless society

Vietnam government picks Alliex to lead cashless transition

South Korea’s fintech startup Alliex Co. has kicked off a new project in Vietnam to create a common payment platform that would standardize the...

[Exclusive] Stake sales

Hankook Tire to sell stake in Hanon Systems, eyes $900 mn gains

South Korea’s Hankook Tire & Technology Co. plans to divest of its 19.5% stake in Hanon Systems Corp., an auto parts maker, in a move that ...

IPOs

S.Korea's color cosmetics leader C&C to list in May

South Korea’s leading color cosmetics manufacturer C&C International Co. will be listed on Kosdaq in May, with expected market capitalizati...

Overseas investments

Naver invests $150 million in Indonesia’s No.1 media group Emtek

South Korea’s online platform giant Naver Corp. has invested $150 million in Elang Mahkota Teknologi (Emtek), Indonesia’s largest technol...

Startups

Sendbird achieves unicorn status via Series C round

Sendbird, an in-app chat and messaging service provider, has become South Korea's freshest unicorn startup, obtaining an enterprise value of over 1 t...

Biodegradables

SK, Kolon tie up on biodegradable plastic production

SK Global Chemical Co., a petrochemical subsidiary of SK Innovation Co., will produce biodegradable plastics together with chemical and textile heavy...

Startups

Stronghold Technology aims to become Tesla of coffee roasters

South Korea-based Stronghold Technology Inc. is the first startup to have applied artificial intelligence technology to coffee roasting machines. The...

Delivery apps

Sale of Korea’s No.2 delivery app Yogiyo kicks off with May 4 prelim bid

The sale of South Korea’s second-largest food delivery app Yogiyo has kicked off with the sell-side issuing an information memorandum to potent...

Global M&As

Deep inside the deal: HYBE-Ithaca merger

The recent merger deal between two global entertainment powerhouses, HYBE Co. of South Korea and Ithaca Holdings of the US, will create a mega music ...

Earnings surprise

Samsung, LG Elec deliver above-consensus Q1 earnings

Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., the world's two largest TV makers, surprised the market on Wednesday with forecast-beating quarterly...

Kakao Japan seeks $446 million from Anchor Equity

Kakao Corp.’s Japanese unit, which operates Japan’s largest webtoon platform Piccoma, is in talks to attract as much as 500 billion won (...

Automotive memory

SK Hynix in talks to supply automotive DRAM to Bosch

South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc. is in talks to supply its memory chips for cars to Robert Bosch GmbH, a German multinational tech giant, given acce...

Hydrogen

Hyundai Oilbank, Air Products sign MOU to make hydrogen

Hyundai Oilbank Co., the oil refining unit under Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co., has joined hands with US gas and chemical company Air Product...

[Exclusive] Startups

Baby Shark creator Pinkfong emerges as S.Korea's 13th unicorn

SmartStudy, a South Korean edtech firm behind global YouTube hits Pinkfong and Baby Shark Dance, has become the country’s 13th unicorn startup ...

Capital raising

Stock, bond issues in S.Korea set for a record year in 2021

South Korean companies, having raised 30 trillion won ($27 billion) in both equity and bond issues in the first quarter of this year, are on course t...

Retailer purchases

SK Group acquires 16.3% of Vietnam’s top retailer for $410 million

South Korea’s SK Group has acquired 16.3% of Vincommerce, Vietnam’s top retail business operator, for $410 million as part of a move to e...

Music and entertainment

BTS, Bieber, Lovato celebrate HYBE-Ithaca alliance

HYBE Co. and Ithaca Holdings, the two entertainment powerhouses that recently joined hands to create the mega music label that will house BTS, Ariana...