South Korean clothing company F&F is set to commit capital of $350.5 million to take part in a private equity firm-led acquisition of California-based golf equipment maker TaylorMade Golf, a filing showed Tuesday. The outfit maker, dedicated to licensed productions for brands such as MLB and Discovery, is taking the place of local rival The Nature Holdings, which on Monday withdrew from its $87....

Kakao Bank, South Korea's largest internet-only bank, will seek to expand into new business areas and become the country's No. 1 financial platform, the company's CEO said Tuesday. "Kakao Bank will strive to emerge as the top financial platform and break into such areas as insurance, fund and asset management," CEO Daniel Yun said at a news conference to mark the lender's planned initial public ...

Bankers choose early retirement at the peak of their careers, but struggle to reenter a finance industry undergoing faster-than-expected digitalization

From home training program to vitamin shopping, insurers turn to health care market

Plastic cards may be new hot merchandise items for K-pop fans

To find new revenue source, the lender eyes acquisition to enter other Asian markets with nonconventional financial services

Travel and leisure platform operator Yanolja completed a $1.7 billion investment round by sole investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2, the company said on Thursday. Yanolja said the company will use the proceeds to scale digital transformation of the global travel and hospitality industry and expand its technology offerings in new markets. The company plans to build and operate an advanced global trav...

BlackRock Real Assets said Thursday it has closed its first investment in South Korea’s offshore wind sector, in line with the country’s renewable energy transition initiative. The New York-based asset managing arm dedicated to real estate and infrastructure investment acquired a 100 percent equity stake in renewables developer Korea Renewable Energy Development & Operation Holdings, formerly kn...

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for changing the way of assessing the value of a privately-owned company in the private capital market in South Korea, said a veteran investment professional on Thursday. The pandemic has accelerated both the demand and supply of services and products associated with the digital transformation and energy transition. This phenomenon triggers a bipolarizat...

The state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea said Thursday it had agreed to extend a $600 million loan to Tunisia to support the North African country’s digital infrastructure development projects. Tunisia plans to use the fund to digitize some 4.5 million maps and land-related documents to build a database and develop a comprehensive land information management system there. “We expect that our s...

More than 90 percent of young Koreans in their 20s and 30s use fintech platforms for money transfers instead of going to bank branches, a survey showed Monday. According to the survey conducted by the Korea Fintech Industry Association, about 96 percent of respondents said they use a financial technology platform developed by nonfinancial companies such as Kakao, Naver and Toss, while 60 percent...

IMM Private Equity, the third-largest private equity firm in Seoul, with $5.4 billion assets under management, is in talks to become the largest shareholder of South Korea’s largest kitchen and interior furniture goods manufacturer Hanssem, a filing showed Wednesday. The proposed strategic investor and the seller group has signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the transaction. Hanssem d...

Hashed, a South Korean venture capital company specialized in investing in blockchain technology, on Tuesday said it has invested an undisclosed amount in Hi, a membership-powered financial service for crypto and fiat currencies. Hi was co-founded by Sean Rach, the former chief marketing officer at Crypto.com and Stefan Rust, who served as CEO at Bitcoin.com. “Hi aims to provide a global wallet...

Shinhan Financial Group will invest in a delivery service provider and an autonomous transportation service startup to upgrade its banking platform and find new revenue streams amid increasing competition in the financial industry for digital transformation, the banking group said Monday. The lender has pledged to make an investment worth 77 billion won ($67.21 million) into three digital platfo...

Responding to rising demand for sustainability in corporate management, Woori Financial Group has decided to invest 100 trillion won ($87.3 billion) in financial products associated with environmental, social and governance, or ESG factors, including credit loans and bonds, by 2030, the banking giant said Monday. The envisioned plan is part of the group’s mid-and long-term ESG strategies to prom...