SEOUL, KOREA - Last year Korea's direct investment in Australia has hit a record high at US$2.2 billion. Despite the overall decline in foreign direct investment by Korean corporations by 12.6 percent, the sum of investment to Australia rose 61.7 percent, due to, among others, an equity purchase of a liquefied natural gas development project.
Even though the first-quarter Korean investment in Australia stopped short of $170 million, it is expected to increase quickly as more Korean companies move down under for a stable supply of energy and minerals. Early in April, Samsung C&T won a large-scale mining development project worth $5.3 billion.
In addition to resource development projects, Korea's major financial investors such as the National Pension Service and Mirae Asset Global Investments are increasing their real estate holdings in the country.
When a foreign company makes an investment in Australia, it must secure an approval with the Foreign Investment Review Board if its stake is in excess of 15 percent of the total or the investment sum surpasses AU$248 million. But for the past ten years there were only two investment cases that haven't been given approval by FIRB, which shows Australia's degree of openness to foreign investment.
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