Amid the lingering business uncertainties from continued COVID-19 crisis, bond investors would be able to avert risks of companies’ default in case they have invested in secured high-yield bonds, a top Barings Asset Management official said on Tuesday. “(Secured bonds) are on top of the capital structure and tend to recover better,” said David Mihalick, head of US public fixed income at Barings, in a teleconference. “Secured bonds are attractive because of the extent th

Market June 30, 2020

South Korea’s National Pension Service said Tuesday it has selected five private equity firms as external partners to invest a combined 800 billion won ($665.28 million) in private equities. According to the world’s third-largest public pension fund, it will commit 160 billion won each to Glenwood Private Equity, Macquarie Asset Management Korea, SkyLake Investment, IMM Investment and JKL Partners. The firms will be responsible for managing funds with a 10-year maturity. Investmen

Market June 30, 2020

South Korea’s largest institutional investor National Pension Service said Monday it has inked a partnership with Germany-based Allianz to co-invest in core real estate assets worth $2.3 billion across the Asia-Pacific region as part of its alternative investment strategy. The 50:50 fund will target properties in countries such as China, Japan, Australia and Singapore, betting on core opportunities in landmark office buildings, logistics facilities and residential complexes -- or assets c

Market June 29, 2020

Deregulatory moves by financial authorities to allow South Korean conglomerates to own corporate venture capital firms have raised concerns over the manifold consequences of such a scheme. The Finance Ministry is set to unveil plans next month to revise the law so that Korean equivalents of Alphabet-backed GV -- formerly known as Google Ventures -- can be launched. The revision of the Fair Trade Act is expected to make significant changes in the history of corporate environment that has banned

Market June 28, 2020

What surprised John Lee, a former Wall Street fund manager who returned home six years ago, was the widespread perception among South Korean retail investors that real estate is a much safer option for investments than stocks, which they considered too risky. Six years on, things have changed, particularly in recent months with a massive inflow of retail investors to the local stock market, said Lee, now CEO of Seoul-based Meritz Asset Management. “They have learned lessons,” he sai

Market June 25, 2020

South Korea’s investment house Optimus Asset Management froze two more feeder funds worth a combined 29.7 billion won ($24.75 million) Wednesday, as prosecutors started to look into fraud allegations against the troubled asset manager. At the same time, Korea’s top financial regulator vowed to carry out a thorough inspection of all privately pooled funds here in a preemptive move to protect fund investors. Optimus on Wednesday notified NH Investment & Securities that the fund

Market June 24, 2020

Celltrion co-founder and Chairman Seo Jung-jin said Tuesday the biosimilar firm’s novel coronavirus vaccine development is on its way as scheduled, expressing confidence that the treatment will become marketable once clinical trials are complete. As one of some 200 drug developers in the world in the race to develop a treatment for COVID-19, Celltrion is poised to go through a human clinical trial with its drug candidate on July 16, following tests on lab animals such as hamsters and monk

Market June 23, 2020

Swedish public pension fund AP7 has added SK Holdings, a South Korean company at the apex of SK conglomerate’s governance structure, to its blacklist of companies to be excluded from its investment universe, its recent report showed Monday. SK Holdings was one of three firms added in the latest move, along with Canadian cannabinoid firm Cronos Group and Egyptian electrical company Elsewedy Electric, according to the blacklist updated as of June 15. According to the report by the institu

Market June 22, 2020

BlackRock Investment Management Korea said in a filing Sunday its incumbent CEO Choi Man-yeon is set to extend his term by two years, starting June 27. Choi has headed the Korean arm of the world’s largest asset management firm since 2014. His three-year term at the top post was renewed in 2017. Choi formerly headed sales at Schroder Investment Management’s Korean unit. The filing also showed that, along with Choi, his colleague Graham Turl will serve his term until 2023 as

Market June 21, 2020

South Korea’s Optimus Asset Management is being probed by financial authorities over allegations that it had breached contracts with fund investors in its portfolio construction. Investors in the privately placed funds appear to be wary of what could trigger another financial fiasco following ones surrounding disgraced fund management firms including Lime Asset Management. The Financial Supervisory Service on Friday launched an investigation on the Seoul-based investment house to examin

Market June 21, 2020

Since its inception in 2015, robo-investing has emerged as a tool with the potential to minimize the impact of market volatility in South Korea. The profitability of this investment method -- based on computerized data analysis, not human instinct -- has been questioned. But the time has come, unexpectedly, to prove who is correct. The catalyst is the coronavirus outbreak that has been rattling the stock market at home and abroad. According to market data tracker FnGuide, 17 robo-investing fu

Market June 20, 2020

Korea Development Bank, South Korea’s policy lender, on Wednesday refused to support the liquidity-stricken SsangYong Motor using its bailout fund of 40 trillion won ($32.95 billion) created to extend a lifeline to local companies suffering from the fallout of the novel coronavirus. “Money is not necessarily everything for a company’s survival,” KDB Chairman Lee Dong-gull told reporters at a teleconference. “It takes money for a company to get through hardships, bu

Market June 17, 2020

MP Group, the South Korean company that controls pizza restaurant franchise Mr. Pizza and coffee chain Manoffin, is seeking to sell a controlling stake through an open bidding process, its announcement showed Wednesday. Up for grabs will be a 48.92 percent stake in MP Group by founder and ex-chairman Jung Woo-hyun and owner families, as well as an undisclosed amount of new shares worth at least 20 billion won ($16.43 million). Proposals from potential buyers will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Ju

Market June 17, 2020

Seizure treatment developer SK Biopharmaceuticals said Monday it is planning what could be South Korea’s biggest initial public offering in three years, with hopes to raise nearly 1 trillion won ($822 million) in fresh funds. Through its market debut on the nation’s main bourse Kospi, scheduled July 2 if the IPO ends in success, the drug development unit of Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK plans to raise 959.34 billion won, which would be the largest fundraising attempt s

Market June 15, 2020

The Korea Exchange, an exchange operator where securities, derivatives and commodities are traded, said Sunday its daily average of gold transactions had doubled this year as investors sought safe assets and a tax benefit took hold in January. The KRX has been trading on average of 93.6 kilograms of gold per day on its spot market from January until June 11, up 114.8 percent from the 2019 average at 43.6 kilograms. At the same time, the spot gold price on the KRX surged 18 percent. Besides i

Market June 14, 2020