South Korea‘s hypermarket chain operators are working quickly to sell their discount stores to improve their balance sheet, as fallout from the coronavirus deepens and the domestic retail industry’s makes a shift to online. As of Friday, Homeplus has agreed to sell three discount stores to undisclosed real estate developers since July, with the proceeds of the sales also under wraps. One is located in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province and the other two are in Daejeon. At least one more dis

Ssangyong Cement Industry has proposed reducing its equity capital to pursue higher dividend and enhance shareholder value. Market watchers say the move makes the case for a possible exit of South Korea‘s second-largest private equity house Hahn & Co. from the nation’s No. 1 cement maker by market share. Ssangyong Cement on Tuesday proposed to reduce equity capital to one-tenth to 50.4 billion won ($42.4 million) by November. As a result, the remainder, 455 billion won, will t

The novel coronavirus has accelerated demand for investment in South Korea’s grade-A logistics assets, beyond demand for prime offices and other safe assets, top officials from CBRE Korea said Thursday. Logistics centers, including fulfillment centers and cold storage warehouses, have been more resilient in Korea than any other commercial real estate in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of 2020, Claire Choi, head of research at CBRE Korea, said in a teleconference with

Financial intelligence firm PEI is poised to host this year‘s Infrastructure Investor Seoul Summit virtually on Sept. 8, the company said Wednesday. The event comes as the London-based company looks to provide a virtual place for the global infrastructure investing community to connect with South Korean institutional investors looking for chances to allocate their capital to alternative assets across the world. The event will mark the third of its kind in Seoul. Due to travel restrictio

Top officials of US investment firm Barings said Wednesday that stocks appear to be an attractive destination for investors, propelled by the US central bank’s dovish stance to support monetary expansions coupled with signs of recovery in the economy. Foreign investors can take advantage of a currency hedging premium thanks to the dovish US Federal Reserve and following weaker US dollar when investing in emerging market stocks including ones in Korea, the officials noted. During a teleco

The unraveling disruption caused by the novel coronavirus might dent the role of the traditional financial hubs, while surprising candidates are likely to take their place with their own speciallizations in the wake of decentralization playing out due to COVID-19, said APG Asset Management Chief Executive Ronald Wuijster on Tuesday. Surprising candidates could be Busan in South Korea, Casablanca in Morocco and Malaysia‘s Kuala Lumpur, Wuijster said during a speech at the Jeonbuk Internati

South Korean institutional investor the Korea Teachers’ Credit Union said Tuesday that it planned to commit 150 billion won ($126.8 million) to 10 external partners this year to create blind pool funds for venture investments. KTCU will pick three large venture capital houses, four mid-sized VCs and three rookie VCs. Eligible candidates must be based in Korea. Applications will be accepted by Sept. 24. Selected partners will be announced in late November and will have to complete the i

South Korea’s pension funds took positive returns in the first half of this year, as they managed to weather the impact of the novel coronavirus on financial markets across the globe, disclosures showed Monday. The National Pension Service, Korea’s largest public pension fund with 752.2 trillion won ($635.5 billion) assets under management, posted a 0.5 percent return Friday as its stock losses were offset by fixed-income assets and alternative investments. By asset classes, from

South Korean institutional investors may see opportunities in the US commercial real estate market as industrial properties in the country garner traction amid the resumption of sales activities, an executive at Colliers International said Thursday. While pointing out that major global blue-chip investors are increasingly tapping into top-tier warehouses in the US, Jeff Black, executive vice president of the company, said Koreans may have room to partner with them as long as they are willing to

South Korea’s 10 largest stocks trading on the main bourse Kospi are seeing its combined market cap account for 45 percent of Kospi constitutents‘ total market cap as local retail investors flock to the large-caps betting on changes in the domestic industry. According to data by the Korea Exchange, the top 10 large-caps on the Kospi stock market took up 44.78 percent of Kospi’s market cap on average in August, up over 11 percentage points on-year. The figure has been on a co

South Korea’s top financial regulator said Thursday its temporary ban on short-selling activities of all listed Korean shares will be extended to March 2021, immediately after the current six-month restriction expires in September. The Financial Services Commission’s decision is meant to keep the stock market volatility at bay as the impact of the coronavirus still persists across the nation. The decision was made as FSC collected written agreements from its commissioners after the

Macquarie Investment Management has named Bastiaan Jeroen van Buuren as its new chief executive to oversee its Korean operation, a filing showed Thursday. The change of leadership has been effective since Aug. 18. Van Buuren replaced Lee Kyung-soo, who served for 16 months at the top post. Joining the Australian asset management house in 2018, van Buuren was head of Asia Distribution based in Hong Kong. He joined Macquarie IM Korea’s board in June 2020. Macquarie IM acquired ING Inve

Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset Management said Thursday it has raised a total of 690 billion won ($582 million) commitment to close its latest private debt fund, designed to offer nonbank loans to support mergers and acquisitions activities. Backers of the fund include its affiliates Shinhan Bank and Shinhan Life Insurance, under the umbrella of the nation’s largest Shinhan Financial Group. The Seoul-based asset management house’s new blind pool fund will extend loans to an acquirer by

South Korea’s largest commercial lender KB Kookmin Bank said Wednesday it is now in the final stage of acquiring Indonesia-based Bank Bukopin. The Seoul-headquartered bank said its shareholders have approved its purchase of 33.1 percent of new shares in Bank Bukopin. The latest deal came after the Korean bank bought a 22 percent stake in the Indonesian firm in 2018 and an additional 11.9 percent in July. KB Kookmin said it has paid a combined 400 billion won ($337.1 million) over the pas

South Korean hedge fund Must Asset Management is moving to divest its stake in domestic builder Taeyoung Engineering & Construction, a month after it declared an end to its shareholder engagement, according to a disclosurce Wednesday. The news comes after yearlong efforts by Must to shake up the governance structure of Taeyoung E&C, which led to spinoffs of the builder’s businesses outside the construction sector. Since July 20, Must had offloaded a 4.61 percent stake in Taeyou

Foreign investors in two Korean companies -- Unison and Yakjin Trading -- managed to sell their stakes earlier this week, but only at significant losses, disclosures showed Tuesday. The sale price was significantly lower than what the investors -- Japanese conglomerate Toshiba and US private equity firm Carlyle Group -- had paid at least seven years before to acquire the assets. Toshiba, the largest shareholder of wind turbine maker Unison, has agreed to sell a 13.9 percent stake, or 15.5 mil

Korean investors have partly invested in a $650 million financing package for two infrastructure projects in Asia-Pacific countries during its fiscal year from July 2019 to June 2020, International Finance Corp. said in an announcement Monday. Of the major private sector investment deals in 12 Asian countries supported by IFC, Korean entities have invested in two projects including a 216-megawatt hydroelectric plant on the Trishuli River in Kathmandu, Nepal worth $450 million. The other on

Korean startup incubation program Seoul Fintech Lab plans to house 30 new tenant startups starting from October this year, its operator said Monday. Of the 30 new tenant enterprises, five will be non-Korean while the rest will comprise Korean companies. Eligible applicants must be dedicated to financial technologies for the Asian market and their business must not be more than 7 years old, a Seoul Fintech Lab official said. Applications will be accepted online until Sept. 11. Qualified partic

Buyout investors at home and abroad are zeroing in on waste management companies in South Korea, as they hope to enjoy rising income over soaring demand for their services, according to market watchers on Monday. Such buyout bids, in turn, present exit opportunities to foreign capital holding majority stakes in such companies, they said. Last week, international investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts closed the acquisition of 100 percent in medical and industrial waste management f

Amid the growing need to have a fresh approach in the already saturated shared space industry, local company FastFive is turning to small commercial building landlords to minimize initial expenditures and build a sustainable profit structure. Kim Dae-il, chief executive officer of FastFive, told The Korea Herald in a recent interview that the company is looking to forge more partnerships with landlords of small commercial buildings instead of signing long-term lease contracts with landmark bui