South Korea is poised to welcome a series of listings of real estate investment trusts by the end of this year, with their underlying assets increasingly diversifying, filings showed Monday. A REIT refers to a vehicle designed to offer dividend returns to its investors through incomes from securitized real estate assets, largely perceived as a risk-averse strategy. Seeing stronger investor demand for public REIT stocks this year, Korea will move onward to welcome at least three new REITs bef

South Korea is in need of more aggressive investment in renewable energy sector in order to achieve its offshore wind capacity goal by 2030 and address the country’s geographical weaknesses in wind energy, a report showed Sunday. Korea was ranked 21st in terms of attractiveness of renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities, in a report that announces the top 40 countries in the assessment, according to London-based consulting firm Ernst & Young. Korea has slid down the

South Korea’s sole sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corp. said Thursday that it has teamed up with two Korean institutional investors to deploy a combined $300 million for co-investment with non-Korean hedge funds in a bid to increase foreign alternatives exposure. Under the plan, the three entities -- KIC, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives -- will create a joint venture before the end of 2021 and start their first co-inv

South Korea’s focus on forging a complete hydrogen energy ecosystem in line with its climate pledge is presenting new investment opportunities, as the country is in dire need of a technological breakthrough to reduce the cost of green transition, a report by German investment bank Deutsche Bank showed Tuesday. The country’s ambition to increase fiscal spending to nurture hydrogen-related research and development, combined with the legal and institutional framework in the m

Seoul-based family office Topor & Co. Korea, co-led by investment banking professional and TV celebrity Mark Tetto, said Tuesday the company has obtained an asset management license in South Korea to expand services for its client base. The move is aimed at expanding its current client offerings to include the privately placed fund business for qualified professional investors under Korean law, TCK said. In line with the move, TCK was rebranded as Topor & Co. Korea Asset Management in

South Korean full-service law firm Yoon & Yang said Monday it has partnered with US-based consulting service company Cadmus Group to address the new demand for legal services in the wake of Korea’s toughening regulation over occupational safety. The partnership will allow Yoon & Yang to assist Korean companies with identifying risks and help them be better prepared for their disaster response mechanism, Yoon & Yang said in a statement. Under a memorandum of understanding si

The megahit Netflix series “Squid Game” depicts a dystopian world where 456 people compete in a series of extreme survival games on a remote island. The sole winner takes all the prize money, while everyone else bites the dust. In the real world, all the “Squid Game” deaths would be eligible for insurance coverage, according to a local insurance company. The question is whether those death benefits would differ depending on how the player died, it added. According to a

US investment firm KKR & Co. said Friday it has acquired newly issued redeemable convertible preferred shares of South Korean energy company SK E&S for 2.4 trillion won ($2 billion). The investment, via KKR‘s Asia Pacific Infrastructure Fund, will provide KKR with an opportunity to receive cash or in-kind redemption for repayment in the future, as well as an opportunity to convert the securities into common shares of SK conglomerate’s natural gas arm, according to KKR. The

Convenience store chain operator BGF has confirmed Friday its plan to acquire a stake in engineering plastic resin maker Kopla for at least 180.8 billion won ($152.6 million), in a strategic move to enter into a new business, sending its shares jumping nearly 30 percent at some point. According to filings with the Financial Supervisory Service, BGF is poised to acquire 11 million common shares of Kopla from Kopla President Han Sang-yong and his affiliated parties and through a new rights offer

South Korean institutional investors have allocated a combined 90 million euros ($104 million) of commitment to a separately structured coinvestment vehicle of a fourth flagship fund by BlackRock Infrastructure Solutions, industry sources said Thursday. Seoul-based investment house IPM Asset Management said Thursday it has created the vehicle for Korean investors, allowing them to implement a coinvestment strategy alongside BlackRock’s fund, dubbed Global Infrastructure Solutions 4. Thr

South Korean midcap buyout fund VIG Partners said Monday it has selected domestic private equity firm Stonebridge Capital as the preferred bidder to sell its stake in massage chair company Bodyfriend. The selling price will be announced when the proposed buyer and seller sign a binding deal by the end of this year, according to VIG Partners. VIG Partners said in a statement the deal will prompt the fund house’s exit from the portfolio companies for its second flagship blind pool fund, c

Keppel Investment Management, the South Korean arm of Singapore-based real estate investor Keppel Capital Holdings, has purchased Sheraton Seoul D Cube for 131.7 billion won ($117.9 million) to embark on a redevelopment project to turn the hotel into a commercial office building. In the latest indication that luxury hotels in Seoul are increasingly losing their luster, Sheraton Seoul D Cube, located in Guro-gu, western Seoul, shut down Sunday after opening in 2011, according to the hotel franch

South Korean gaming firm Krafton has inked a deal to acquire 100 percent ownership of US video game developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment for $750 million, in the first takeover deal it has announced since the company went public in August, a filing showed Sunday. According to the disclosure filed with the Financial Supervisory Service, Krafton, a Tencent Holdings-backed company behind the battle-royale style PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds franchise, signed a sales and purchase agreement

Private Debt Investor, a publication covering the global private debt investing scene, said Sunday it plans to hold a virtual investor event in November and feature post-pandemic strategies of Korea’s sole sovereign wealth fund, Korea Investment Corp. During the event, named PDI Japan Korea Week, Choi Jin-suk, senior director of investment strategy group at KIC, will share the allocator’s key considerations when applying its environmental, social and governance factors in private de

A local court granted an injunction request by South Korean buyout firm Hahn & Co. to block Namyang Dairy Products Chairman Hong Won-sik from exercising his voting rights, noting that a sales and purchase agreement between the two parties is valid, according to a recent ruling obtained by The Korea Herald Thursday. The court’s decision indicated that Hong and his family members had failed to present evidence of Hahn & Co.’s breach of nondisclosure agreement, unlawful interv

Poverty among retired South Koreans, coupled with the fast-paced aging of the country’s population, is leaving the national economic growth engine prone to a slowdown, an investment guru said Wednesday. Individuals in Korea -- a nation where 4 out of 10 people aged over 65 are estimated to live in relative income poverty -- must learn to take control of their finances so they can build wealth that lasts until retirement, said John Lee, chief executive officer of Meritz Asset Management,

Fundraising activities via a company’s initial public offering rose sixfold by volume in South Korea‘s capital market during the first three quarters of this year over investors’ growing appetite for debutants on the stock market here, data showed Wednesday. The combined IPO proceeds of Korean companies, including special purpose acquisition companies, through the newly-issued shares between January and September came to 11.9 trillion won ($10.2 billion), up 478.3 percent fro

The Korea Teachers’ Credit Union, an institutional investor responsible for 40 trillion won ($34.3 billion) of assets as of end-June, denied Tuesday rumors that it was considering exposure to bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, through an exchange-traded fund created by a Korean external partner. “The KTCU has never reviewed an investment in a bitcoin-related ETF, and will never have a plan to do so,” KTCU said in a statement. The remark came after it was rep

IMM Private Equity said Monday it has signed a binding term to become the largest shareholder of South Korean kitchen and interior furniture goods manufacturer Hanssem in a 1.45 trillion won ($1.24 billion) deal. Under a sales and purchase agreement, the third-largest buyout firm based in Seoul, with $5.4 billion in assets under management, will buy 6.5 million ordinary shares -- or 27.7 percent of voting rights -- owned by sellers comprising founder Cho Chang-gul and his seven specially a

A new shareholder group led by South Korea’s electric bus manufacturer Edison Motors has unveiled its capital procurement plan for its proposed acquisition of India-based Mahindra & Mahindra‘s embattled South Korean arm SsangYong Motor. But the plan was later countered by the state-run lender, Korea Development Bank, one of the major creditors of the ailing sports utility vehicle maker, signaling a rocky road ahead of the top bidder. On Friday, KDB said it is “inappropr