MP Group, the South Korean company that controls pizza restaurant franchise Mr. Pizza and coffee chain Manoffin, is seeking to sell a controlling stake through an open bidding process, its announcement showed Wednesday. Up for grabs will be a 48.92 percent stake in MP Group by founder and ex-chairman Jung Woo-hyun and owner families, as well as an undisclosed amount of new shares worth at least 20 billion won ($16.43 million). Proposals from potential buyers will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Ju

Six out of 10 accounts offered at commercial banks in South Korea offer near-zero interest rates on their deposits following the central bank’s key rate cut in May. According to data released Wednesday by the Korea Federation of Banks, 31 out of 51 commercial banks’ 12-month deposit accounts provided their customers with yields of less than 0.5 percent as of June. This indicates that 6 out of 10 major banks’ deposit products do not even offer 1 percent interest a y

Hyundai Card said Tuesday it has forged a partnership with Starbucks Korea to launch a private label credit card in the second half of this year. The local credit card issuer will be in charge of marketing and operations. PLCC refers to a store-branded credit card -- applicable for either retail or wholesale manufacturers, such as department and specialty stores -- allowing users to enjoy all rewards provided by the partner company. It is Starbucks Korea’s first PLCC partnership sinc

CEO says its market debut unscathed by coronavirus; parent SK Holdings’ shares surge 9 percent

Korean commercial banks had cut their yields on savings and checking accounts to near zero as of Sunday, in line with the central bank’s move to slash its policy rate to a record low of 0.5 percent last month to combat economic risks from the coronavirus pandemic. Major commercial banks Shinhan, KB Kookmin and NH Nonghyup have lowered their yields on one-year savings and checking accounts -- which are most popular among customers here -- to a range of 0.3 percent to 0.75 percent, in rec

Shared working space operator WeWork’s Korean subsidiary has offered its employees a voluntary retirement last week as part of its restructuring plan, sources with knowledge about the matter told The Korea Herald on Thursday. “The voluntary retirement scheme was offered to the entire staff last week,” said a source on condition of anonymity. The scheme is in line with WeWork headquarters’ bid “to shut down the Korean operations,” another source told The Kor

South Korea’s asset management companies’ combined net profit has shrunk by over half on-year in the first quarter, data showed Thursday. The net income of 300 AMCs here came to 116.4 billion won ($97.32 million) during the January-March period, down 52.3 percent from the previous year, according to data by the Financial Supervisory Service. The volume fell 11.4 percent on-quarter. Their return on equity -- a key measure of financial performance -- stood at 6.1 percent in the firs

Woori Financial Group’s privatization plan, which has been stalled due to the novel coronavirus outbreak here coupled with its plunge in stock price, is likely to move forward again, on account of its recent stock price recovery, government sources said Wednesday. The Public Fund Oversight Committee under the policymaking Financial Services Commission, overseeing Woori’s privatization, plans to discuss the sell-off of the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance’s stake in Woori in

Samsung Asset Management said Wednesday it has launched a fund to pool South Korean retail investor’s money into a signature fund by London-based quantitative hedge fund manager Man AHL. By investing in Man AHL’s TargetRisk fund, the Korean feeder fund is expected to offer capital growth through a long-only exposure, under which the fund manager takes advantage of profit opportunities by betting solely on undervalued assets. The Korean feeder fund, dubbed Samsung MAN Investment Ba

Despite pandemic impact, ASEAN countries remains lucrative for local lenders

South Korean banks saw their average capital adequacy ratio fall slightly in the first quarter from the previous quarter, data showed Monday. The average capital adequacy ratio of 19 commercial and state-run banks stood at 14.72 percent as of the end of March, down 0.54 percentage point from the end of December, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). A key barometer of financial soundness, the ratio measures the proportion of a bank's capital to its risk-weighted

In an effort to stem unfair practices and illegal activities, South Korean authorities propose to set up a system to oversee non-holding financial conglomerates, which have been in the blind spot of regulations so far.  The Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service made an advance legislation notice Friday about an act to reinforce the supervision of non-holding financial giants, including Samsung Group, Kyobo Group, and Hyundai Motor Group. Under the new rules, loc

Shinhan BNP Paribas said Sunday it has clinched a combined 520 billion won ($430.1 million) commitment to create a fund to support small firms dedicated to 280-megawatt solar energy projects across South Korea. The Seoul-based asset management firm’s deal comes amid growing new and renewable energy momentum buttressed by the nation’s recent environment initiative, called “green new deal,” aimed at investing in environmentally-friendly energy businesses and creating jobs

New York-based provider of exchange-traded funds Global X ETFs has launched an emerging markets bond ETF in its first actively managed strategy, its parent Mirae Asset Global Investments said Thursday. The product, dubbed Global X Emerging Markets Bond ETF, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It will target US dollar-denominated securities including fixed-rate and floating-rate debt instruments issued by sovereign, quasi-sovereign, and corporate entities from emerging market countries. T

France-based international private investment house Ardian said Wednesday it seeks to accelerate its push for more secondary investments in Asia, as the company has reached a historic-high $19 billion commitments to its new secondary fund from global investors. Secondary investment refers to a purchase of existing private assets and is considered a source of liquidity for institutional investors. The latest fundraising is expected to underpin Ardian’s position as a lead secondary investo