Moleskine, the Milan-based legendary notebook maker with a more than 200-year history, is sailing through the digital era, evolving into a “platform for creativity.”Under the new brand vision, Moleskine has stopped limiting itself to paper-based black notebooks. “The brand today creates platforms and containers for imagination either online or offline,” Arrigo Berni, CEO of Moleskine, said in a recent email interview with The Korea Herald.So it made sense for him to start seeking opportunities i

POSCO, the world’s fifth-largest steelmaker, is expected to drive a bold downsizing of noncore affiliates and seek initial public offerings of key business arms to improve its financial health and reinforce its core business.Company chairman Kwon Oh-joon, who was inaugurated in March, outlined Monday his reform plans during an investor relations session in Yeouido, Seoul.One of the key parts of the reform is downsizing fringe business units by merging overlapping businesses and selling noncore a

Underwriter Goldman Sachs is scheduled to accept bids for LIG Insurance next Monday to pick the preferred bidder among six contenders, including KB Financial Group, Lotte Group and the Tong Yang Life-Vogo Fund alliance.The other three potential bidders that have submitted preliminary proposals are MBK Partners, China-based Fosun Group and the Middle East-based Jabez Partners.LIG Group plans to dispose of its 20 percent stake, worth 370 billion won ($350 million), in LIG Insurance to raise funds

South Korea’s top central banker said Friday that the Bank of Korea is closely watching the foreign exchange market amid growing currency volatility.In a meeting with commercial bank heads, Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said the central bank was keeping tabs on the market for any herd behavior.Lee’s remark is the latest in a series of comments by South Korean financial officials who voiced firm will to act against speculative forces and sharp volatility in the foreign exchange market.Earlier this week, Vice

U.S.-based insurer Cigna said Friday it will provide customized health management tips via a healthcare app on Samsung Electronics’s newest smartphone Galaxy S5. The new “Coach by Cigna” will be added to the smartphone’s pre-loaded S-health 3.0 app and released in 36 countries in 26 languages. The insurer said the provided contents will allow users to keep track of their daily health conditions and activities by linking them to healthcare data stored on the app.The Galaxy S5 is the first smartph

Kia Motors, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, said it will showcase 27 vehicles, including seven different variants of its new Carnival minivan at the Busan International Motor Show, which will kick off on May 29. The country’s second-largest automobile manufacturer said an “outdoors” car, a limousine and a light “mover” will be shown to the Korean public for the first time at the show. The minivan, a multipurpose vehicle, made its debut at last month’s New York International Auto Show and is

Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee, who has been under treatment after a heart attack since Saturday night, is gradually recovering, his doctors said Friday, curbing the public’s woes over the fate of the 72-year-old business tycoon.“Chairman Lee’s condition is getting better,” said Yoon Soon-bong, the president of Samsung Medical Center where Lee is hospitalized. When asked about rumors surrounding Lee’s health, including suspicions he is in critical condition, Yoon said, “If the situatio

Daewoo Engineering and Construction, one of top three local builders, said Friday it won a $910 million highway construction deal in Qatar. The builder said it signed part of the New Orbital Highway and Truck Route contract from Ashghal, the Middle East country’s public works authority. The highway contract is the third-largest road construction order secured by a South Korean construction company in a foreign country.Daewoo E&C will be in charge of engineering and design as well as construction

State-run Korea Electric Power Co., the largest electric utility company in Korea, signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday with KT, the nation’s second-largest mobile carrier, to jointly develop a business model targeting the overseas smart grid market, KEPCO said in a press release.A smart grid, which refers to an advanced electric grid using smart net meters based on information and communications technology, has attracted global attention as it can improve the efficiency, reliabilit

South Korean chipmaker SK hynix recouped its position as the world’s No. 2 maker of dynamic random access memory chips in the first quarter of this year, data showed Wednesday, three months after it slipped to the third spot following a fire at its Chinese plant.The data from market researcher DRAMeXchange showed that SK hynix garnered 28.2 percent of the global DRAM market in the January-March period, outpacing U.S. Micron Technology, which posted 28 percent. The latest figure marks a turnaroun

International Business Machines chief executive officer Ginni Rometty will face a skeptical audience when she speaks to Wall Street analysts tomorrow. As she’s worked to revamp the company in a shifting technology industry, Rometty has kept herself bound to IBM’s target of at least $18 a share in adjusted earnings this year ― a number that 60 percent of analysts anticipate the company will miss. After eight consecutive quarters of revenue declines, she must start increasing sales or reduce expen

Samsung Electronics saw its market share in tablet PCs reach a record-high level in the first quarter of the year, data showed Tuesday, narrowing its gap with U.S. rival Apple. The world’s biggest smartphone maker took up 22.6 percent of the global tablet PC market by shipping 12.8 million units of such devices in the January-March period, the data by market researcher Strategy Analytics showed. It marked a 3.7 percentage points increase from the 18.9 percent posted in the previous year, when Sa

The bad loan ratio of local banks rose slightly in the first quarter of this year from three months earlier from an increase in fresh overdue debts, the financial watchdog said Tuesday.The combined bad loan ratio stood at 1.81 percent at the end of March, up 0.02 percentage point from the previous quarter, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The bad loan ratio refers to the proportion of a bank’s nonperforming loans to their total lending. A debt that has been in arrears for more than

South Korea is considering a sale of dollar- and euro-denominated bonds amid the best start to a year for sovereign debt since 2009. Asia’s fourth-largest economy plans to meet investors in the U.S. and Europe from May 21 to discuss a possible offering, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday, asking not to be identified because the details are private. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government intends to price five-year dollar notes as soon as today, a separate person said.Sovereign bonds in t

The country’s exports of information and communications technology products rose 4.5 percent in April from a year earlier on growing shipments to China and the U.S., the government said Tuesday.Outbound shipments of ICT products came to $14.76 billion last month, compared with $14.12 billion in the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The April figure, however, marks a 1.5 percent drop from $14.98 billion posted in the previous month. “Overall exports of

Hyundai Sonata hybridHyundai Motor, the country’s top carmaker, said Tuesday it will launch its popular Sonata hybrid in the Latin American market this year, with the first vehicles to be sent to Ecuador.Approximately 3.42 million new cars are expected to be sold in the Latin American market this year, with 3,500 to be hybrids.“The hybrid market is not that large, but these cars are viewed as being high-tech by consumers, so by selling the Sonata HEV, Hyundai aims to improve its brand value that

Ten promising clean energy technologies that will help accelerate the global transition to clean energy were announced in Korea on the first day of the fifth Clean Energy Ministerial meeting.The global forum of energy ministers and officials from 23 governments kicked off on Monday at the Grand Hyatt Hotel for a two-day run. The participating governments represent 90 percent of all global clean energy investment and 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Korean Energy Minister Yoon Sang-

The fifth Clean Energy Ministerial meeting opens Monday in Seoul and run for two days under the theme of “Act Together, Think Creative,” according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Sunday.CEM is a voluntary and collaborative global forum of energy ministers from 23 governments with the distinctive goal of accelerating the world’s clean energy transition.During the meeting, Korea, as the host country, will call for lowering trade barriers to products and services related to renewab

South Korea’s exports of agricultural and food products rose from a year earlier last month on a large increase in shipments to the United States and Southeast Asian nations, the government said Sunday. Shipments of farm goods amounted to $556.6 million in April, up 13.8 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Exports to Japan, the world’s single-largest importer of Korean farm products, gained 3.4 percent on-year to reach $110.5 m

South Korean manufacturers think 1,052.3 won to the U.S. dollar is the break-even exchange range and that the present strengthening of the local currency is eating into their profitability, a poll carried by a local business group showed Sunday. The survey conducted on 120 large manufacturers by the Federation of Korean Industries showed many are struggling with current conditions and warned if this trend continues, they may have to reassess their corporate goals. The appreciation of the Korean