Deals

Mergers & Acquisitions
PI Advanced up for sale in deal estimated at $1 bn
Seoul-based Glenwood Private Equity is putting a majority stake in South Korea's PI Advanced Materials Co., the world's largest polyimide (PI) film manufacturer, up for sale, which is expected to bring in over 1 trillion won ($834 million), accordi
Feb 15, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Earnings
HMM returns to annual profit in a decade as stake sale looms
HMM Co., South Korea’s largest container line, returned to an annual profit for the first time in a decade, boosted by higher freight rates an...
Feb 14, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean startups
MBK, IMM to invest over $300 mn in Megazone Cloud
MBK Partners and IMM Private Equity will each be investing 200 billion won ($167 million) in Megazone Cloud Corp., the first South Korean business p...
Feb 13, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
GS ups spending to take control of botox maker Hugel
South Korea’s energy-to-retail conglomerate GS Group has increased its spending to become the largest shareholder in Hugel Inc., the country's...
Feb 13, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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The Deep Dive
How Carlyle aligned interests with Hyundai Motor chair
South Korea's strengthened antitrust rules relating to inter-affiliate trade provided the Carlyle Group with a valuable opportunity to invest in Hyu...
Feb 13, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Private equity
Seoul court upholds Affinity's Kyobo Life valuation
A South Korean court on Thursday ruled in favor of Affinity Equity-led financial investors (FIs) in Kyobo Life Insurance Co., rejecting Kyobo's clai...
Feb 10, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean games
Saudi sovereign wealth fund buys $700 mn stake in NCSoft
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has increased its stake in South Korea's leading gaming company NCSoft Corp. to become its fourth-...
Feb 10, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Singapore approves Korean Air-Asiana combination
Singapore’s antitrust authority approved the integration of Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc., paving the way for South Korea&rsqu...
Feb 09, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Batteries
KKR, Carlyle, TPG vying for $4 bn stake in SK's battery arm
KKR & Co., The Carlyle Group and TPG Inc. have handed in preliminary bids for shares in SK Group's battery unit SK On, which is seeking to raise...
Feb 08, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean games
Saudi sovereign wealth fund buys 5% stake in Nexon
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) has bought a 5% stake in online game developer Nexon Co., the gaming...
Feb 06, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Netmarble shares slide on report of CJ ENM's stake sale plan
Shares in South Korea's leading game developer Netmarble Corp. plunged 8.7% on Thursday to end at its lowest level in more than one and a half years...
Feb 03, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Pre-IPOs
IMM to invest $120 mn in SoftBank-backed subtitle firm
South Korea's IMM Investment Corp. has agreed to invest 140 billion won ($120 million) in Iyuno-SDI Group, valuing the world's largest dubbing and s...
Jan 28, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Samsung buys $2.3 bn Bioepis stake from Biogen to end partnership
Samsung Biologics Co. is acquiring a nearly 50% stake in a biosimilar joint venture with Biogen Inc. from the US biotechnology company for $2.3 bill...
Jan 28, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Hyundai Engineering drops IPO plan on stock market weakness
Hyundai Engineering Co., the plant engineering and construction unit of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group, dropped a listing plan to raise up ...
Jan 28, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Daewoo Shipbuilding to look for domestic buyer: KDB
The state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), the main creditor of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., said on Thursday it will look for a...
Jan 28, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Private equity
IMM to buy Samsung Life stake once owned by Jay Y. Lee's sister
IMM Private Equity is set to acquire a 1.73 percent stake in Samsung Life Insurance Co., according to investment banking sources on Jan. 27. The sta...
Jan 27, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Construction
HDC Hyundai eyes over $800 mn in loans after fatal accident
South Korea's HDC Hyundai Development Co. plans to raise more than 1 trillion won ($832 million) in funding backed by its real estate holdings as th...
Jan 27, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Bain Capital seals 3rd beauty M&A deal in S.Korea
Bain Capital on Thursday agreed to buy a majority stake in South Korea's medical aesthetic device manufacturer Classys Inc. for 670 billion won ($56...
Jan 26, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Hyundai Engineering CEO: To spend $1.3 bn on green projects with IPO
Hyundai Engineering Co., the plant engineering and construction unit of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group, plans to spend as much as 1.5 trill...
Jan 26, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min readlanguage -
Mergers & Acquisitions
Barbarians at the gate: fraud-hit Osstem wooed by bankers
South Korea's Osstem Implant Co., battered by the country's largest-ever embezzlement scandal for a listed company, is now being courted by investme...
Jan 26, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Fraud scandals
Lazard seeks to sell off fraud-hit Osstem Implant
Lazard Asset Management has tapped multiple professional investors in South Korea to sell off its shares in Osstem Implant Co, worth $165 million, t...
Jan 25, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Korea’s biotech startup Voronoi to go public in March
South Korea’s biotechnology startup Voronoi Inc. plans an initial public offering in March to raise up to 130 billion won ($108.4 million).Vor...
Jan 25, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean chipmakers
SK Hynix to invest more in US chip design startup SiFive
SK Hynix Inc., South Korea’s major chipmaker, decided to make an additional investment in a US chip design startup SiFive in order to secure s...
Jan 24, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Lotte acquires Ministop Korea for $260 mn from Aeon
South Korea's Lotte Group has agreed to acquire a 100% stake in Ministop Korea for 313.4 billion won ($263 million), the country's fifth-largest con...
Jan 23, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Corporate bonds
S.Korea's Jan. bond issues on track for record $6 bn
South Korean companies are ramping up their local bond issuances to finance expansion into low-carbon and contactless platform businesses, with stro...
Jan 23, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean startups
Zuckerberg-backed family office bets on Korean golf platform
ICONIQ Capital, a US family office backed by Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has invested 50 billion won ($42 million) in Smartscore, a South ...
Jan 21, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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The Deep Dive
Behind the eye-popping numbers of LG Energy's IPO
The initial public offering of South Korea's LG Energy Solution Ltd. drew a record 11,500 trillion won ($9.65 trillion) in bids from institutional i...
Jan 21, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Hyundai Samho Heavy says no delay to 2022 IPO
South Korea's Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. this week reaffirmed its plan to go public by the end of this year, as agreed with its pre-IPO inve...
Jan 20, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean games
Microsoft $69 bn bet spurs Korea game makers' search for metaverse deals
South Korea’s game developers are expected to seek more acquisitions of the metaverse and non-fungible token (NFT) companies for new profit so...
Jan 20, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min readlanguage -
Korean food
Vegan foodmaker Organica attracts funding from China's CITIC
Plant-based food company Organica Corp. has attracted investment from China’s alternative investment firm CITIC Capital Holdings Ltd. This mar...
Jan 20, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
1 Min readlanguage
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