Deal of the Year Awards
Scope
Date
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Mergers & Acquisitions
CVC poised to buy S.Korea’s top contact lens maker OLENS
CVC Capital Partners is in the final stage of talks to acquire OLENS, South Korea’s largest contact lens brand, for about 500 billion won ($34...
Jan 16, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Economy
S.Korea’s job growth slows for 2nd straight year in 2024
South Korea’s job growth slowed last year amid a prolonged slump in the country’s construction, manufacturing and retail sectors, boding...
Jan 15, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Electronics
LG mulls US plant expansion to deal with Trump 2.0 tariffs
CLARKSVILLE, TN -- South Korea’s appliance and electronics giants are actively looking into options to ramp up the production capacity of thei...
Jan 14, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Bio & Pharma
Samsung Biologics signs $1.4 bn CMO deal with European pharma
South Korea's Samsung Biologics Co., the world’s largest contract drugmaker, said on Tuesday it signed a $1.4 billion contract manufacturing o...
Jan 14, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Steel
South Korea’s steel imports from China at 7-year high
South Korea’s imports of steel products from China climbed to their highest level in seven years despite a decrease in its total steel imports...
Jan 13, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Real estate
Koramco seeks to sell Seoul prime office tower in $272 million deal
South Korea’s Koramco REITs Management & Trust Co. is poised sell a prime office building in Seoul in an estimated 400 billion won ($272 m...
Jan 13, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Real estate
NCSOFT’s NC Tower up for sale with its value estimated at $272 million
The sales of several office buildings along Teheran-ro in Seoul's upscale Gangnam Business District (GBD) are gaining momentum.The bidding for the...
Jan 10, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Batteries
LG Energy to supply batteries to US solar EV startup Aptera for 7 years
LG Energy Solution Ltd., the world’s third-largest battery maker, agreed to supply cylindrical products to Aptera Motors Corp., a US solar ele...
Jan 10, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Bio & Pharma
Samsung Biologics signs initial deal with LigaChem Bio on ADC production
Samsung Biologics Co., the world’s largest contract drugmaker, said on Thursday it has signed an initial agreement with LigaChem Biosciences I...
Jan 09, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Earnings
LG Energy logs 1st quarterly loss in over 3 years, outlook remains gloomy
LG Energy Solution Ltd. reported its first quarterly loss in more than three years on Thursday, adding to concerns that the world’s third-larg...
Jan 09, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Economy
Foreign direct investments in Korea hit record $34.57 billion in 2024
Foreign direct investments in South Korea hit a record high in 2024, driven by Chinese and Japanese investors in the manufacturing sector, the Minis...
Jan 07, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Shipping & Shipbuilding
Hanwha to more than double staff at US Philly Shipyard in 10 years
South Korea’s Hanwha Group is set to more than double its employees at Hanwha Philly Shipyard in the US over the next 10 years as the chemic...
Jan 07, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Foreign exchange
South Korea’s forex reserves drop to 5-year low in 2024
South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves shrank to a five-year low at the end of last year after the country’s foreign exchange authoriti...
Jan 07, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean startups
Hyundai Motor to introduce 10 startups in robotics, AI at CES 2025
Hyundai Motor Group, which has been promoting open innovation through generous investment in startups with promising technologies, will lead 10 cher...
Jan 06, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean Investors
Former LG man leaves KKR to start PEF
Lim Hyoung-seok, former Vice President of KKR Korea, left the private equity giant’s Seoul office and established his private equity fund (PEF...
Jan 06, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Shareholder activism
Korean activist investors to routinize campaigns throughout year
South Korea’s activist investors are set to routinize campaigns all year long rather than launch fresh moves only before annual general meetin...
Jan 03, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Real estate
Seoul office sales rebound for first time in 4 years in 2024
The Seoul office market bounced back for the first time in four years in 2024, with transaction volume soaring 78.7% to 13.4 trillion won ($9.1 bill...
Jan 03, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Business & Politics
Korea sharply cuts 2025 growth forecast, opens door for extra budget
South Korea sharply lowered its economic growth forecast for this year amid the prolonged political turmoil following President Yoon Suk Yeol’...
Jan 02, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Retail
China's Miniso re-enters S.Korea
Miniso, a household goods store known as "the Chinese version of Daiso", has re-entered South Korea after three years.According to the retail indust...
Dec 31, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Upcoming IPOs
Rosy outlook for South Korean fintech IPOs in 2025
The South Korean fintech industry, which bloomed a decade ago, is poised to take the next step for the coming 10 years after prominent players began...
Dec 30, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Aerospace & Defense
India to acquire 100 units of Hanwha Aerospace’s K9 howitzers via L&T
India will acquire 100 units of the K9 self-propelled howitzers developed by South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace Co. from Larsen & Toubro (L&am...
Dec 30, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Shipping & Shipbuilding
Hanwha Ocean, another Korean shipbuilder win $951 million WTIV deals
Hanwha Ocean Co. and another major South Korean shipbuilder have won deals worth a combined 1.4 trillion won ($951 million) to each build a wind tur...
Dec 30, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean startups
Korean startup M&As halve in 2024 with smaller deals
Mergers and acquisitions of South Korean startups halved in value in 2024 as conglomerates and Big Tech firms such as Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. sn...
Dec 27, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Economy
South Korea becomes super-aged society faster than expected
One in five South Koreans is now 65 years old or older as the Asian country grapples with the demographic challenge of a rapidly aging population an...
Dec 24, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Fintech
Korea’s Naver Pay partners with WeChat Pay for mobile payments in China
South Korean tech giant Naver Corp. said on Tuesday it has partnered with WeChat Pay to offer a Naver Pay mobile pay and digital wallet service usin...
Dec 24, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Hahn & Co. to buy controlling stake in SK’s specialty gas unit for $1.9 bn
South Korea’s private equity firm Hahn & Co. is set to acquire a controlling stake in the world’s top specialty gas producer SK Spec...
Dec 24, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
M&A deals in South Korea hit 7-year low in 2024
South Korea’s mergers and acquisitions market shrank further in 2024, with leading business groups seeking to unload non-core assets to bolste...
Dec 23, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Energy
LG Energy wins 7.5GWh ESS project from Excelsior Energy in US
LG Energy Solution Ltd. has landed a deal with US renewable energy infrastructure fund Excelsior Energy Capital (Excelsior) to supply a 7.5-gigawatt...
Dec 20, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Debt financing
POSCO to raise up to $691 million as next year’s 1st corporate bond issuer
South Korea’s steel-to-battery materials conglomerate POSCO Group plans to raise up to 1 trillion won ($691 million) in the country’s fi...
Dec 19, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Central bank
S.Korea’s c.bank chief sees limited impact of political turmoil on economy
South Korea’s central bank chief said on Wednesday the impact of political turmoil caused by martial law on Asia’s fourth-largest econom...
Dec 18, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
Latest News
- 1 Maybe Happy Ending: How a Seoul-made robot love story rewrote Broadway playbook
- 2 NPS yet to schedule external manager selection; PE firms’ fundraising woes deepen
- 3 Woori Financial wins approval for Tongyang, ABL Life acquisition
- 4 BMW surpasses Mercedes in Korean sales amid imported vehicle market shake-up
- 5 Seoul appeal: Korean art captivates Indonesia’s affluent connoisseurs