.SEOUL, KOREA – Institutional investors are showing keen interest in Seoul Semiconductor in recent days, based on expectations that the LED lighting market will usher into a full-scale growth phaseOn the KOSDAQ over-the-counter market, Seoul Semiconductor closed at 24,300 won on December 7, up 4.74 percent from a day ago. Compared to a month ago, the share price of Seoul Semiconductor marked an 11

SK Group has joined forces with the U.S. Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity firms, for global investment. The Korean company said on December 9 that senior vice chairman Choi Jae-Won has met Carlyle managing director Rodney S. Cohen in the latter's New York office to sign the strategic alliance agreement. The latest deal has attracted attention as it is a marriage between

SEOUL, KOREA – The government has set out to create a private equity fund worth up to 1 trillion won in efforts to support Korean contractors in winning large-scale plant building projects overseas. According to investment banking sources on December 9, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy began taking applications for the management of the Korea-Middle East plant fund through Samjong KPMG.The fu

SEOUL, KOREA – This year, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) levied a record fine on businesses. The collected amount this year up to November rose by 163% compared to last year, reaching a total of 913 billion won (USD850 million). This is a clear indication that the intensity and sanctions of the investigation has increased. Some analysts say that this provides too much pressure on business

SEOUL, KOREA – Japan's Orix Group is set to acquire a 43.1-percent stake in STX Energy, a resource development arm of Korea's STX Group. The company is reported to purchase the stake for the purpose of reducing tax obligations through the use of a special-purpose corporation. Orix Group will dispatch three directors to supervise the management of STX Energy. According to investment banking sou

SEOUL, KOREA – A trade show has been held in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, to attract consumers in the Chinese inland provinces. The exhibition, with 76 Korean companies participating, is expected to yield more than USD100-million supply contracts.The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency sponsored a trade fair promoting Korea's superior products at the Wuhan International Exhibition

SEOUL, KOREA – Import car sales continued to rise in Korea, with the new registration number of import cars reaching an all-time high last month. According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA), the monthly sales of import cars in Korea passed the 12,000 mark for three straight months.The number of import cars sold in Korea last month totaled 12,470 units, exceed

SEOUL, KOREA – The venture capital firm that has sent the highest number of start-ups to the KOSDAQ market this year has been KTB Network. Meanwhile, the start-up firm that gave the highest return on investment to a venture capital firm has been Viatron Technologies.According to Korea Exchange and Korea Venture Investment Corp. on December 5, the number of companies that has made initial publi

SEOUL, KOREA – Trading companies of Korea and China may be able to use the Korea-China currency swap fund for their transactions from mid-December at the earliest. The currency swap fund is estimated at 64 trillion won (360 billion Chinese yuan).Once this arrangement is up and running, the companies in China and Korea won't need to pay their payables with dollars. For example, Korean importers

SEOUL, KOREA – LG Economic Research Institute said on December 4 in a report "Population Aging: The National Finance Breaker," "Korea has all the hallmarks of what caused the Japanese fiscal crisis." "Given the rapid aging pace of the Korean population, it is imperative to find out what really caused the Japanese government debt problem and what to do about it," the report argued.The cumulative

SEOUL, KOREA – The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said on December 4 that Korea will break the USD 1-trillion barrier in trade figures (sum of export and import figures) by the 8th. The item that contributed most was none other than petroleum products including gasoline, diesel, and lubricant, overtaking traditional major export items such as ships, semiconductors, and automobiles. The amount o

SEOUL, KOREA – LG Electronics’ drum washing machine was picked as the best product by Finland’s influential consumer journal. LG Electronics announced on December 4 that its drum washing machine (Model name: F1273NDP) came on top in a product survey conducted by TM Rakennusmaailma. The drum washing machine achieved high scores in the categories of washing performance and auxiliary functions.TM R

SEOUL, KOREA – The Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. held on December 4 an opening ceremony for its new Shin-Gori nuclear power reactors No. 1 and 2. More than 400 guests were present at the event including Minister of Knowledge Economy Hong Seok-woo and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power president Kim Kyun-seop. The 1-million-kW-class reactors were built with KSNP (Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant)

SEOUL, KOREA – Banks are doing very well in attracting retirement pension deposit accounts. In contrast, the insurance companies that had accounted for more than 60 percent of the market since the retirement pension scheme made a debut in December 2005 have quickly lost grounds to a level of 30-percent market share.As of the end of October, the total amount deposited in retirement pension fund

SEOUL, KOREA – Despite its recent fuel efficiency scandal, Hyundai Motor saw its monthly sales reach an all-time high in November 2012Hyundai Motor sold 420,365 cars last month, up 11.9 percent from a year ago, including domestic sales of 61,608 and overseas sales of 358,757. This figure is higher than its previous monthly record set in October 2012 when it sold 412,189.Domestic sales grew by 12.6

SEOUL, KOREA − As an increasing number of foreign financial service companies announce their plans to leave Korea, including HSBC's retail banking business, UK insurance group Aviva, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, some in the financial service industry are wondering whether more and more foreign companies will withdraw in droves.Given ING Life and ING Asset Management will soon be sold off,

SEOUL, KOREA – LT new business and NP growth slowed at non-life insurers in Oct, as anticipated.And, the slowdown is likely to continue over the next two to three months. As such, we believe there is some downside risk to our 3QFY12 (end Dec) earnings forecasts for non-life insurers (excluding Samsung F&M).Going forward, policy change regarding insurance (lower standardized target investment r

SEOUL, KOREA – Strong rebounds to continue with record salesHyundai Motor (Hyundai) and Kia Motors’ (Kia) record-breaking sales rally continued in Nov for a second straight month and will continue in Dec due to expanding production capacity and strengthening lineups amid the record-low global inventories. As for the fuel economy issue, the anticipated solid Nov US sales numbers will dispel the con

SEOUL, KOREA – The Korea International Trade Association said that Korea next year will make a 4-percent growth in exports and reach a trade surplus of USD 30 billion. According to the Institute for International Trade on December 2, the exports next year would be USD 575 billion, up 4.6 percent from this year's 549.6 billion. The forecast trade surplus figure would also surpass USD 30 billion

SEOUL, KOREA – Despite the ongoing recession in major economies, Korea's exports in November hit a record high for the year and have continued trade surplus for ten consecutive months. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said on December 2 that the November exports were USD 47,795 million, 3.9 percent higher than the same month last year. The imports for the month were USD 43,320 million, up 0.7