South Korean private equity house Korea Corporate Governance Improvement appears to be in a predicament as its hostile takeover bid for Hanjin KAL is being overshadowed by the Korea Development Bank’s tighter control over the parent company of flag carrier Korean Air Lines. This comes as a KCGI-led consortium, which took issue with the “poor governance” displayed by the transportation group’s owner family and sought to bring in professional managers to replace incumbent

The country’s two major lenders Shinhan Bank and Woori Bank have come under scrutiny again over their sale of unsound products of scandal-ridden Lime Asset Management after being called to a financial watchdog’s meeting that would decide the fate of their top executives. The Financial Supervisory Service held its second sanctions committee meeting Thursday to decide the level of sanctions for Woori Bank, Shinhan Financial Group and Shinhan Bank, major sellers of Lime funds that in

South Korea’s private equity firm JKL Partners is poised to inject 80 billion won ($70.7 million) in Korean low-cost air carrier T‘way Air in April, a filing showed Wednesday. JKL Partners was offered the opportunity to buy some 31.8 million convertible preferred shares in T’way’s capital increase, so that T’way Air can use its proceeds to pay the cost of airplane lease and maintenance. The securities offering plan to the third-party investor gained board approval

Coupang founder Kim Bom-suk has divested his stake in the South Korean e-commerce giant worth $42 million, a filing showed Tuesday. According to the disclosure, Kim converted his Class B stocks into 1.2 million Class A common shares and then on Monday sold all the shares of the same class for the offering price of $35 apiece, which was fixed last week. Coupang‘s Class B shares give Kim 29 times more voting rights than Class A shares. A prospectus filed to the US Securities and Exchange C

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea rose in February, mainly due to a gain in corporate holdings of US dollar deposits, central bank data showed Tuesday. Outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits held by residents amounted to $90.03 billion as of end-February, up $650 million from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Residents include local citizens, foreigners staying here for more than six months and foreign companies. The data exclude

The Korea Development Bank, a major creditor of debt-saddled SsangYong Motor, said Monday that the commercial vehicle maker and its labor union had been “uncooperative” when dealing with the proposed acquirer led by US car retailer HAAH Automotive, which clouds prospects for the deal. Their passivity -- failing to present a reorganization plan swiftly and hinging on state financial support -- stands in contrast with the endeavors of the company’s India-based major shareholder,

South Korea’s Woori Bank on Monday has decided to heed to the financial watchdog’s recommendation to compensate to end-investors who dealt with heavy losses due to the lender’s selling of funds tied to 1.7 trillion won ($1.5 billion) misselling scandal involving now-defunct hedge fund Lime Asset Management. The nation’s fourth-largest commercial lender by total assets will provide 78 percent of total investments made by an 82-year old man -- whose investment had been fr

Schroders Korea said Monday it had pooled over 100 billion won ($88 million) from South Korean end-investors earlier this month through its fund product that is designed to hold a portfolio of its flagship global sustainable equity fund. This is the first to reach the milestone among Korean funds dedicated to foreign equities while taking environmental, social and governance factors into account, according to Schroders Korea. Schroders Korea has raised Koreans’ capital for th

The race to bid for unlisted companies‘ next initial public offering bonanza among South Korean investors is intensifying, data showed Sunday, as the recent high-profile deals including Coupang’s $4.6 billion US IPO whet investor appetite. Krafton, which develops and publishes battle royale game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, saw its trading price spike on over-the-counter platforms here. The game developer is the country’s largest unicorn -- a term used to describe a

Credit card firm Lotte Card said on Thursday that it has launched LOCA MONEY, a group of financial services covering short-term and long-term loans and “over-the-limit,” credit card services. The company said the brand focused on financial services is the first of its kind in the credit card industry. All of the newly launched services are branded under the LOCA MONEY name, including the LOCA MONEY-short term loan, and LOCA MONEY-long-term loan. With LOCA-prime, the card issuer w

US investor BlackRock said Wednesday it has increased its stake in South Korea‘s largest banking group KB Financial Group to 6.02 percent, from 5.01 percent in May 2014. According to the disclosure, BlackRock Fund Advisors and 14 specially related entities had net bought a combined 314.8 billion won ($275.4 million) worth of shares in KB Financial over the past seven years. As a result, BlackRock was holding some 25 million shares out of KB Financial’s total 415.8 million outstandi

Former NH Financial chief say banks still have upper hands in credibility, security of financial services amidst intensifying digital war

Hana Financial Group on Wednesday unveiled its vision to go carbon neutral by 2050 to support the nation’s transition toward a sustainable economy. Under the goal of achieving “coal-free finance,” the banking giant will launch an internal committee in charge of halting financial support -- including project financing and underwriting of bonds -- for businesses that have adverse environmental and social impacts, as early as during the first half of this year, officials said.

The National Pension Service said Wednesday it would engage in voting for Posco Chairman and CEO Choi Jeong-woo’s new term as a Posco board member in a way that does not affect the result of the shareholders’ vote on Friday. The decision not to vote against Choi comes as a series of workplace accidents, the company‘s involvement in a coal-fired project and alleged ties to Myanmar‘s military coup piled pressure on Choi, who served as chief of the steel-to-chemicals congl

South Korea’s financial regulator said Tuesday it has decided to further ease local lenders’ obligations to pile up liquid assets until September, in a move to encourage them to prop up the real economy reeling from the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.  The liquid coverage ratio, or LCR, is the proportion of necessary assets held by financial institutions, which serves as a key indicator for a bank’s financial soundness.  Under the current LCR regulation designed to c