KTB Asset Management has closed a 550 billion won ($478.8 million) commitment to Bridge Debt Strategies Fund IV, a pooled investment vehicle mainly targeting securitized multifamily residential housing loans in the United States, the company said Tuesday. The Seoul-based asset manager added it has attracted capital commitments from eight undisclosed South Korean institutional investors, targeting annual returns of up to 11 percent from its fund-of-funds strategy. Bridge Debt Strategies Fund I

SEJONG -- South Korea's agricultural ministry said Tuesday local chicken farms have gradually normalized their operations from avian influenza, a move that could stabilize the market price of eggs. The number of chickens supplied to the disease-hit egg farms came to around 18 million as of end of June, more than the 16 million chickens culled as a preventive measure, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. South Korea has been normalizing the operatio

SEJONG -- South Korea's trade ministry said Tuesday it is closely reviewing the potential impact from Europe's toughened carbon restrictions set to be implemented in 2023, as the move is expected to weigh down the country's outbound shipments of steel products. "The country is currently assessing the impact of the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and plans to come up with measures to cope with the new policy," an official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.

South Korea's tax revenue rose 5.2 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in June compared with a year earlier amid an economic recovery and a boom in property and stock markets, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The country collected 20 trillion won in taxes in June, higher than the 14.7 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The government said corporate tax income increased due to the economic recovery, while a boom in asset markets bolstered capital gains t

A top financial regulator called Tuesday for banks to set up tighter supervision of household debts as policymakers voiced warnings against growing financial imbalances amid a surge in home prices. Eun Sung-soo, the outgoing chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), made the remarks at a meeting with chief executives of financial holding firms earlier in the day. Eun also urged banks to preemptively act to keep household debts in check, the FSC said. Eun's remarks came as the Bank

Sales of department stores in South Korea grew at the fastest-ever clip in the second quarter of the year amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. Local department stores saw their sales in terms of constant prices soar 20.3 percent on-year in the April-June period, according to the data from the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS). It was the largest-ever on-year increase for the second quarter since data tracking began in 1995. Industry watchers attributed the second-q

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street over the resurgence of the new coronavirus and its delta variant. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 4.68 points, or 0.14 percent, to 3,255.74 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks retreated amid concerns that the highly contagious delta variant may hamper the ailing global economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.3 percent, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.09 pe

Electric bus maker weighs acquisition of Mahindra & Mahindra‘s financially-pinched Korean arm to seek electric vehicle transition

South Korean stocks retreated for the third straight session Monday after choppy trading, as an estimate-beating improvement in US jobs data increased concerns about an early tapering. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 9.94 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 3,260.42 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 685 million shares worth some 15.5 trillion won ($13.5 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 647 to 208. For

The country‘s second-largest carmaker Kia said Monday it will invest 10 billion won ($8.7 million) into local fintech company Bank Salad in a bid to set foot in the mobility data business. 　 Through the investment, Kia seeks to forge a partnership with the fintech firm to develop data technology for the mobility industry such as open data platform for cars and connected cars. They plan to launch car insurance services that use MyData, a government-led project to comprehensively collect

Citibank Korea said Monday it had become the sole coordinator for a consortium led by Hyundai Engineering & Construction in dealing with syndicated bonds worth a total $2 billion to build a metro line in Panama. The US-based bank’s Korean subsidiary will become a part of a syndicate including the Korea Export-Import Bank and the Korea Trade Insurance Corp. that plans to purchase trade receivables from the consortium under the guarantee of the Panamanian government. The partnership

The government‘s plan to bring loan products under one platform by October to help consumers easily compare the options available is facing headwinds from traditional banks and their tech rivals in the wake of their already intensifying competition to gain the upper hand in digital financing. The “mobile-based loan exchange platform” pushed by the policymaking Financial Services Commission since January is a mobile application, whereby debtors can browse the number of availab

South Korea is expected to maintain a stable supply of pork products despite the latest outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) at a local farm, officials said Monday, although the country still needs to stay vigilant over the spread of the fatal animal disease. The combined number of domestic pigs at local farms was estimated at 11.1 million units as of the end of June, up 0.6 percent on-year, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. South Korea rep

Combined service output rose in all 16 provinces and major cities for the first time in six quarters in the April-June period with the South Korean economy on a recovery track, data showed Monday. Service output grew 5.7 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the fastest on-year gain since the first quarter of 2008, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Service production increased in all 16 provinces and cities for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2019, the data s

South Korea's agricultural ministry said Monday it has reached an agreement with Australia to maintain its exports of pears despite the outbreak of fire blight in the country. The country has been shipping pears produced in four designated regions under the condition that the country verifies that farms in the area are free of fire blight infections. The country reported a series of fire blight cases nationwide this year, including regions neighboring the designated farms. Fire blight is a co