Daewoo International, the trading arm of POSCO, South Korea’s top steelmaker, has purchased a 24.1 percent stake in an Indonesian copper mine, the company said Friday.“With the first deal in natural resources, the company will expand the business portfolio in energy sector,” the company said in a press release. The trading company signed the deal for 46 billion won ($45 million) with Australian mining company Finders Resources, which owns and runs the mine on Indonesia’s southwestern Wetar Islan

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest handset maker, struck a deal with the International Olympic Committee on Sunday to officially sponsor the Olympic Games until 2020, the South Korean company said. Under the deal, Samsung will sponsor South Korea’s PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018 and the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 by supplying a wide range of devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops for athletes and other participants. IOC President Thomas Bach and Lee Jae-yong, th

Sales of low-grade corporate bonds, once shunned by investors over high-rated corporate debts and safer government debts, rose sharply last month, showing signs of emerging good investment tools, data indicated Friday. A total of 5.9 trillion won ($5.69 billion) worth of corporate bonds were sold in July, up 2.2 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Financial Investment Association. The sales of corporate bonds rated “AA” or above totaled 4.45 trillion wo

Foreign investors continued to pour into South Korean stocks last month, extending their fourth straight month of net buying, with their investment jumping more than fivefold from a month earlier, the country’s financial watchdog said Friday.Offshore investors snapped up a net 3.6 trillion won ($3.49 billion) worth of local shares in July, compared with a net purchase of 714 billion won in the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The value of their shareholdings came to

Asiana Airlines, South Korea’s second-largest full-service carrier, said Friday its operating profit turned to the black in the second quarter, posting 2.98 billion won ($2.87 million). In the same period a year ago, the company posted an operating loss of 29.93 billion won. Despite a surplus in operating profit, however, the carrier posted a net loss of 11.75 billion won ($11.3 million) in the second quarter, mainly due to a rise in one-off non-business spending and a stronger won.“Because of A

POSCO, the nation’s top steelmaker, said Friday it would reorganize its affiliates to create larger entities in order to reduce business overlap and speed up corporate decision making, considered vital to coping with the rapidly changing business climate.In a board meeting at POSCO’s Seoul office, the steelmaker said all steel distribution and processing affiliates that handle materials such as carbon steel, stainless steel and certain steel plate products will come under the control of POSCO Pr

STX Group confirmed on Thursday that it has signed a deal to sell STX Finland to a consortium formed by the Finnish government and German shipbuilder Meyer Werft.“The group expects the deal to spur its restructuring efforts to normalize its management,” a company official said, declining to comment on the price. Under the deal, Meyer Werft will secure 70 percent of the yard, while the Finnish state goes home with the remaining 30 percent.The Finnish government reportedly joined the deal to quell

Microsoft Corp. has sued Samsung Electronics, claiming the South Korean smartphone maker breached a 2011 agreement to share patents.Under the agreement, the two companies cross-licensed patents for each other’s products. Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker, got royalties from Samsung for phones and tablets that use some of the U.S. company’s patented technology. The two companies said they would work together to develop and market Windows Phone, Microsoft’s mobile software. The softwar