Kakao to buy FreeNow
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Batteries
Korea’s EcoPro invests $11 mn in Indonesian nickel smelter
South Korea’s leading electric vehicle battery materials producer EcoPro Group is expanding its investment in Indonesia for stable procurement...
Mar 25, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Commodities
Korea struggles with surging copper scrap exports to China
South Korea’s nonferrous metal industry is scrambling for the procurement of copper scrap as China, the world’s top copper consumer, has...
Mar 18, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Private equity
Tmax Group to draw more than $572 mn to buy back Tmaxsoft
South Korea's leading software company Tmax Group is set to draw at least 750 billion won ($572.3 million) and a maximum of 1 trillion won from Seou...
Mar 12, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Bio & Pharma
Vivid Health gets seed round from Kakao Ventures
Vivid Health, a South Korean startup that operates an obesity treatment management platform announced on Wednesday that it got a seed round investme...
Mar 06, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean startups
Kakao Ventures invests in AI optimization startup Omelet
Kakao Ventures Corp. has made an undisclosed amount of seed investment into Omelet, a South Korean early stage startup developing industrial operati...
Feb 29, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Artificial intelligence
Kakao Brain releases medical GenAI tech for free
Kakao Brain, an artificial intelligence (AI) R&D subsidiary of South Korea's Kakao Corp., announced on Tuesday that it has uploaded the Labeler ...
Feb 20, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Sovereign bonds
Fed rate cut hopes spur Koreans’ US Treasury bond buying spree
US Treasury bonds are gaining popularity among retail investors in South Korea amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates...
Feb 16, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean startups
Venture downturn keeps Korean unicorns from acquisitions
South Korean unicorns, or private companies worth $1 billion or more, are increasingly refraining from taking over smaller startups for business exp...
Feb 16, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Batteries
LG Energy to buy more Australian lithium for US EV benefits
LG Energy Solution Ltd., the world’s third-largest electric vehicle (EV) battery maker, said on Wednesday it was set to buy more lithium, a ke...
Feb 14, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Qoo10 buys US e-commerce platform Wish for $173 mn
Southeast Asia-focused e-commerce platform Qoo10 Pte. has agreed to acquire Wish, a US online marketplace, for $173 million from Nasdaq-listed Conte...
Feb 13, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Earnings
KB Financial posts record-high profit on loan growth
KB Financial Group and Kakao Bank, top players in South Korea’s offline and mobile banking sector, respectively, achieved their highest-ever p...
Feb 08, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Bio & Pharma
Kakao launches AI-based blood sugar management solution
South Korea’s Kakao Healthcare Corp. has introduced an artificial intelligence-based blood sugar management solution targeting the global digi...
Feb 01, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Venture capital
SK Networks ties up with US-based Bow Capital for investments
SK Networks Co., a South Korean trading company, joined hands with Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Bow Capital for investment cooperation,...
Jan 31, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Corporate governance
Kakao to replace K-pop pioneer SM execs over poor governance
Kakao Corp. is set to replace executives of SM Entertainment Co., who ousted its founder Lee Soo-man when the South Korean mobile giant acquired the...
Jan 29, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Corporate governance
Kakao inspects SM Entertainment’s management
Kakao Corp. has embarked on a special inspection of SM Entertainment Co.'s financial reporting for the first time since the South Korean internet gi...
Jan 26, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Artificial intelligence
Kakao’s multimodal LLM Honeybee: Korea’s answer to Gemini, GPT-4
Kakao Corp., South Korea’s top mobile platform operator, said on Friday it has developed a multimodal large language model (MLLM) with the lat...
Jan 19, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Batteries
Korea's LX International buys Indonesian nickel miner for $100 mn
South Korean trading firm LX International Corp. said on Tuesday that it has acquired a 60% stake in Indonesian miner PT Adhi Kartiko Pratama (AKP)&...
Jan 16, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Orion to buy control of biotech startup LegoChem for $415 mn
South Korea’s snack and confectionery maker Orion Group has agreed to buy a controlling stake in LegoChem Biosciences Inc., a Korean biotech s...
Jan 15, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Tech, Media & Telecom
Korea’s Hancom buys document software firm Clipsoft
Hancom Inc., a homegrown office suite developer in South Korea, said on Friday that it has acquired local business-to-business (B2B) digital documen...
Jan 05, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean stock market
Foreign net buying of Samsung Elec at record high in 2023
Foreign investors turned net buyers of Samsung Electronics Co. in 2023, reversing their selling spree of the stock over past three years, as the sem...
Jan 01, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Future mobility
Kakao Mobility posts sevenfold rise in overseas ride-hailing services
Kakao Mobility Corp., which runs South Korea’s most popular ride-hailing app, saw its services in overseas markets grow sevenfold in the first...
Dec 29, 2023 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Kakao Mobility's talks to acquire FreeNow in deadlock
Kakao Mobility Corp.’s ambition to go global has hit a roadbock after its parent group Kakao Corp. rejected its draft bid to buy Germany-based...
Dec 27, 2023 (Gmt+09:00)
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Fintech
Korean Kakao Pay’s acquisition of US' Siebert collapses
South Korean Kakao Pay Corp.'s takeover deal of US-based Siebert Financial Corp. has failed amid the growing legal risks surrounding top executives ...
Dec 20, 2023 (Gmt+09:00)
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Automobiles
Hyundai to sell Russian car plants at about $100 for exit
Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s top carmaker, has decided to sell its plants in Russia for only about $100 to a local company although it has...
Dec 19, 2023 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Coupang to buy luxury platform Farfetch at $500 mn
Coupang Inc., South Korea’s leading e-commerce platform, plans to acquire Farfetch Holdings, a London-based online retailer for luxury goods, ...
Dec 19, 2023 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Poultry processor Harim to buy Korean top sea carrier HMM for $5 bn
South Korea’s leading poultry processor Harim Group is set to acquire the country’s No. 1 sea flag carrier HMM Co. for about 6.4 trillio...
Dec 18, 2023 (Gmt+09:00)
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Chemical Industry
Samyang buys specialty chemical maker Verdant for $257 mn
Samyang Specialty Solutions LLC, a leading chemical and food products maker in South Korea, has entered into an agreement to wholly acquire Texas-ba...
Dec 18, 2023 (Gmt+09:00)
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Executive reshuffles
Kakao taps venture capital unit head as new CEO to lead reform
Kakao Corp., South Korea’s top mobile platform under fire for its extremely aggressive business expansion, tapped its venture capital unit hea...
Dec 13, 2023 (Gmt+09:00)
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Retail
Korea’s top dollar store chain Daiso buys out Japanese shareholder
South Korea’s AsungHMP Co. has bought a 34.2% stake in Asungdaiso Corp., which operates the country’s top dollar store chain Daiso, from...
Dec 13, 2023 (Gmt+09:00)
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Entertainment
Toho buys 25% stake in CJ ENM’s Fifth Season for $225 mn
Toho Co. has acquired a 25% stake in Fifth Season for $225 million, a move expected to be a win for not only the money-losing US-based producer-dist...
Dec 12, 2023 (Gmt+09:00)