In 2014, just 10 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, the capital of war-torn Iraq, hundreds of Hanwha Engineering & Construction workers were toiling away to build a new city worth $10.1 billion to provide new homes for some 600,000 Iraqis. Far away from home and exhausted by the desert heat, the workers craved fresh flatfish sashimi, a cheap dish in South Korea but impossible to find in Iraq. When Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn heard the news, he ordered chefs to prepare flatfish sas

Shares of Samsung Group’s major units lost ground just as its de facto leader Lee Jae-yong was released on parole Friday, seven months after being return to prison for bribery involving former President Park Geun-hye. Shares of Samsung Electronics, the group’s flagship company and world’s largest memory chip maker, closed at 74,400 won ($63.66), down 3.38 percent from the previous session’s close. The stock began trading at 1.43 percent lower and further dropped to hit i

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. said Thursday its earnings rose more than 16 percent in the second quarter of the year from a year earlier. Net income came to 312.6 billion won ($270 million) in the April-June period, up 16.1 percent from a year earlier, the leading non-life insurer said in a regulatory filing. Operating income stood at 452.3 billion won in the three-month period, up 16.6 percent from a year earlier. In the first half of the year, the company's net profit soared nearl

Krafton has priced its initial public offering at 498,000 won ($434.5) a share, at the top end of its indicative price range of 400,000-498,000 won, the South Korean game maker said in a regulatory filing Thursday. The game developer behind shooting game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds wrapped up its book-building process Tuesday. While institutional investors placed their bids to obtain new shares for the IPO, a total of 621 domestic and overseas institutions participated. Competition amo

KakaoBank, South Korea’s largest internet-only bank, set a record Thursday in the initial public offering market history here, having attracted keen attention from investors both at home and abroad ahead of its market debut on the country’s main board Kospi next month. The banking arm of mobile giant Kakao wrapped up its book-building process Wednesday. While institutional investors placed their bids to obtain new shares for the IPO, a total of 1,667 domestic and offshore instituti

Major South Korean insurers saw their mortgage loans grow at a fast clip over the past year on rising demand, industry data showed Tuesday. Mortgage lending by top life insurer Samsung Life Insurance surged 17.2 percent on-year to 21.3 trillion won ($18.6 billion) at the end of March this year. In the first quarter of the year alone, its home-backed loans surged by more than 1 trillion won. No. 2 industry player Hanwha Life Insurance saw its mortgage loans jump 17.3 percent on-year to 4.9 tril

South Korea’s top financial regulator will give a ruling on whether the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s two daughters -- Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin and Samsung Welfare Foundation chief Lee Seo-hyun -- are qualified to become major shareholders of Samsung Life Insurance. This decision is expected to go in their favor, paving their way to become the company’s largest shareholders, industry sources said on Sunday. The policymaking Financial Services Commission is sl

South Korean game developer Krafton has decided to lower its initial public offering price range ahead of its market debut on the country’s benchmark Kospi next month, following criticism from both financial authorities and market watchers saying that its valuation is “overrated.” The company made some corrections on its prospectus Thursday via DART -- the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure board -- by reducing a target price band and the number of ne

Kakao Pay, the payment services unit of mobile giant Kakao, could make its market debut in August, the same month its sister company KakaoBank goes public, industry watchers suggested Tuesday. The company received approval on its application for a preliminary qualification examination for listing from the Korea Exchange on Monday, also the same day KakaoBank, a banking arm of the messenger giant, made its August IPO official. After discussing the timeline with its lead underwriters Samsung Sec

South Korea’s domestic capital market is gearing up for a record year with a parade of initial public offerings set to eclipse a decade-old annual record of 10.1 trillion won ($8.9 billion), thanks to game developer Krafton’s expected blockbuster debut. This comes as Korean companies’ initial public offerings this year have already put their combined fundraising to a near-2020 level, according to IPO prospectuses submitted to Korean financial authorities. Through Sunday, 40

AsianInvestor, a Hong Kong-based publication dedicated to the investment activities of Asian asset owners, said Monday that it planned to offer a glimpse of the latest trends among Korean investors at a virtual event June 21-25. Institutional Investment Week Korea, the 14th event of its kind for Seoul investors, will focus on how Korean investors can rebalance their portfolios and build resilience into their investment strategies amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual event was canceled last y

Samsung Life Insurance has set up a plan to invest 20 trillion won ($17.98 billion) in financial projects linked to environmental, social and governance initiatives by 2030, the company said Thursday. After holding ESG meetings among executives recently, the insurer announced its long-term plan to make investments in renewable energy businesses and ESG bonds while cutting carbon emissions in half and reducing paper use by 60 percent by the end of 2030. The company said it will also try to pu

Market kingpin Samsung Electronics was the most heavily shorted stock in the South Korean market in the first month of a conditional resumption on short selling, data from the nation’s sole bourse operator showed Sunday. The amount of short sale transactions of the tech giant stood at 611.7 billion won ($549.18 million), an average of 34 billion won per day during 18 trading sessions from May 3 to Friday, according to the Korea Exchange data. Samsung shares have recently traded bearish,

As cities around the country battle over a proposed museum to house the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s art collection, the government said it would reveal details about the plan by mid-June. “The minister is likely to hold a press briefing in Seoul in mid-June to share the progress made so far regarding a new museum or storage place,” an official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism told The Korea Herald. “We have formed a task force committee and

South Korean institutional investor Military Mutual Aid Association has named Lee Sang-hee, former top investor at Lotte Non-Life Insurance, as its new chief investment officer, the firm said Monday. Lee’s three-year term will start on Thursday, according to the institutional investor who manages 12.7 trillion won ($11.18 billion) in assets as of 2020. He will be responsible for overseeing 5 trillion-won worth of financial assets at MMAA -- including equities, fixed-income and alternative