Samsung C&T said Thursday that its plans to sell 5.76 percent stake to KCC Corp. was aimed at successively attaining the initial goals of the merger with Cheil Industries, involving business diversification and increasing synergy.The Samsung Group unit also noted that the move is believed to protect the company and shareholders’ interests from a foreign hedge fund targeting huge short-term gains.Its statement came after a U.S.-based hedge fund unveiled its plans to apply for another injunction t

SK Innovation, the energy holding company of SK Group, is reportedly considering selling its subsidiary SK Lubricants to MBK Partners, a homegrown private equity fund, industry sources said Thursday.The deal to buyout SK Lubricants ― which has been preparing for a major initial public offering by the end of this year ― is estimated to be worth 3 trillion won ($2.7 billion), according to local news reports.“As of now, nothing has been conclusively settled. MBK’s offer is just one of the several o

South Korea’s tech giant LG Electronics has won an award for its solar power system, the NeON 2, at the Intersolar Europe exhibition, the world’s leading solar power trade show which is scheduled to run through this Friday in Munich.A judging panel for the Intersolar Award 2015, held on the sidelines of the trade fair, recognized the high efficiency of LG’s solar energy solution, according to the tech giant. The LG solar product, with its cell measuring 15.67 centimeters, deploys top-notch techn

South Korea’s popular navigation app Kimgisa last month started its pilot service in Japan, but for most Korean mobile users, there may be no way to check out the Japanese version. In a market, widely called a “tomb” for Korean companies, especially IT firms, the app has decided to conceal its nationality and take a new Japanese name instead of Kimgisa ― which means “Driver Kim” in Korean. Kimgisa, launched in 2011, has become one of the top-selling navigation apps in Korea. Daum Kakao recently

Foreign investors were found to have actively bought bonds in the South Korean market last month, the Financial Supervisory Service said Tuesday.The foreigners’ investment in Korean bonds was estimated at 3.19 trillion won ($2.9 billion) in May, marking the highest in 27 months since they bought bonds worth 3.5 trillion won in February 2013.Their net buying of local bonds came to 4.4 trillion won, up 700 billion won from a month earlier.By investor nationality, Switzerland topped the list with n

When the 2008-09 subprime mortgage crisis hit the United States, a great volume of global equity funds flowed into the South Korean bond market amid the widened gap between interest rates of the two countries.But the current situation is reversing the trend as the rate gap has continued to narrow over the past few months, according to data from the Bank of Korea. The continued contraction stems mainly from the U.S.’ move to hike its benchmark rate and Korea’s expected monetary easing policy.Whil

The nation’s seven major banks saw their housing-collateralized loans rapidly increase over the past two months amid the revitalized property market.Following the monthly growth of 6.8 trillion won ($6.1 billion) in housing-collateralized loans ― or loans for purchasing apartments ― in April following the March 12 key interest rate cut, commercial banks also reported a collective increase of more than 6 trillion won in May, their lending data showed Wednesday.The surge of more than 6 trillion wo

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Wednesday it has revised its outlook on Korea’s 2015 GDP growth down to 3 percent from its earlier projection of 3.8 percent.In its initial outlook a year back, the Paris-based organization forecast that Korea’s growth would reach 4.2 percent this year. Following the cut by 0.4 percentage point in November 2014, it has again lowered its outlook by 0.8 percentage point.In its June 3 report, the OECD also revised its projection for the

The financial authority has decided to push for lifting or easing the barriers between subsidiaries of financial groups as part its efforts to seek product competitiveness on the global stage.During a meeting of nine financial group executives on Tuesday, Financial Services Commission chairman Yim Jong-yong vowed to ease the regulatory policies for freer business environment and diversification of financial products.“The financial group system has contributed to the quantitative growth of the fi

BEIRUT (AFP) - The Islamic State group seized territory from both Syrian government forces and rival rebels over the weekend further expanding the caliphate it has proclaimed straddling Iraq and Syria.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that following gains in both Homs province in the centre and Aleppo province in the north, IS now controlled half of the country's land area.Geographer and analyst Fabrice Balanche said that across Iraq and Syria, the jihadist group now controlled nearly

GENEVA (AFP) - The United Nations said Monday that more than 6,400 people had been killed in conflict-wracked Ukraine, and despite a slowdown in fighting, millions more are suffering from abuses and hardship.In its latest report, the UN human rights office noted that an overall decrease in indiscriminate shelling since a fragile truce was agreed in Minsk in February had resulted in a decrease in civilian casualties.But nonetheless, at least 6,417 people perished from the beginning of the conflic

NEW YORK (AFP) - Microsoft on Monday announced that the latest version of its Windows operating system will be available July 29 for computer and tablet users.The new Windows 10 software will come as a free upgrade to people who already use Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and will be available in 190 countries.Windows 10 will come pre-installed on Microsoft-compatible computers and tablets from July 29 and will be available for purchase later in the year.The move marks a major launch for Microsoft, aft