The Korea Times

Samsung plans mega high-tech complex

By Kim Jae-kyoung Samsung Electronics said Thursday that it will create an industrial complex in Godeok International New Town in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, to accommodate production facilities of the electronics giant’s new businesses, including solar energy and medical equipment. The complex will be named “Samsung Godeok Industrial Complex,” and established in area of 3.95 million square meters within Godeok New Town. It is more than twice the size of Samsung’s business unit in Suwon and LG Display’s production line in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. For confirm the deal for the development, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Choi Gee-sung and Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo signed a contract Thursday to construct the mega complex at the headquarters of the provincial government. According to the province, Gyeonggi Urban Innovation Corp., a development company run by the province, which will be in charge of developing the complex, will sign an official contract with Samsung to sell the lots in March next year. The provincial government plans to begin the construc

Dec 23, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung

Companies

Rising commodity prices threaten recovery

By Kim Jae-kyoung Inflation has emerged as the major stumbling block preventing the economy from fully recovering from the economic slump, as commodity prices are skyrocketing while food prices are not declining. The upside risk to consumer prices are highly likely to pressure the Bank of Korea (BOK) to raise the key interest rate at its first monetary policy committee meeting in January, 2011. The BOK froze the rate at 2.5 percent in December. According to the Korea National Oil Corp. Thursday, Middle East crude for sale to Asia climbed to the highest in almost 27 months as futures in New York rallied on expectations that demand growth will accelerate. Dubai oil for loading in February, which accounts for around 80 percent of the nation’s oil imports, breached the $90 mark per barrel Wednesday, for the first time since Sept. 29 in 2009, reaching $90.31. It further climbed to $90.51 Thursday, up $22.23 or 32.4 percent from the yearly low of $68.28 on May 25. Brent North Sea crude for February delivery also rose to $93.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wed

Dec 23, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung

Companies

Creditors set to nix Hyundai Groups bid for big builder

By Kim Jae-kyoung, Kim Tae-gyu Creditors have all but decided to scrap their deal with Hyundai Group to hand over a controlling stake in the nation’s top builder, a source at a creditor bank told The Korea Times, Thursday. “There is a 99 percent chance of that,” the source, a bank official, said on condition of anonymity, adding that documents provided by the group failed to prove its ability to raise the required funds for the takeover. Hyundai Group officials didn’t respond to repeated calls for comment. The move is expected to put the sale of the construction company back to square one, as cancellation of the deal means that creditors will have to start over from the beginning. Hyundai Group, led by Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, was chosen as the preferred bidder for a 34.88 percent holding in Hyundai Engineering & Construction (HE&C) for 5.5 trillion won ($4.8 billion), thwarting a bid by its only rival, the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group. “The main creditors are scheduled to hold a meeting today to vote on whether to cancel the memorandum of understanding (MOU) r

Dec 16, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung

Companies

Daewoo Securities sets sights on Asian market

By Kim Jae-kyoung The year 2010 was a milestone for Daewoo Securities as it successfully achieved two goals ― solidifying its leading position in the domestic market and preparing to become a global player. In the 2010 fiscal year that began in April, the brokerage house posted operating profits of 208.9 billion won and a net profit of 152.3 billion won for the first six months, solidifying its dominant position here. During the year, it boasted prowess in the areas of investment banking (IB), trading and wealth management, as well as in the retail sector, including the brokerage business. In particular, it strengthened its dominance in the retail market. The outstanding balance of the firm’s wealth management accounts has breached the 46 trillion won mark. The brokerage house also outperformed its rivals in the investment banking sector. It has handled many large-scale initial public offerings (IPOs), including Tongyang Life Insurance, the first listing by a local insurer. In the first half of last year, the firm managed the capital increase of Hynix Semiconductor, the l

Dec 16, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung

Companies

Korea shows fastest slowdown in OECD

By Kim Jae-kyoung The Korean economy is losing steam at the fastest pace among OECD member economies, which experts believe is the aftermath of the fast recovery over the past year initiated by the government’s aggressive stimulus measures. According to the OECD Wednesday, Korea recorded 101.3 in the organization’s composite leading indicators (CLI) in October, down 0.5 points from a month ago. It marked the largest monthly drop among OECD member nations, indicating the Korean economy will face a fast slowdown in the first half of next year. CLI, which reflects industrial output, housing market, financial market and gross domestic product (GDP), refers to the OECD’s standardized consumer and business confidence indicators. It is seen as an indicator of forecasting the course of the economy in four to six months. Turkey ranked second in terms of economic slowdown with its index falling 0.4 points, while Australia, Denmark and New Zealand shared third place with a 0.2 point decrease. Canada, Italy and Japan were also in negative territory. On average, OECD member countries

Dec 15, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung

Companies

Domestic economy faces warning signals

9 out of 10 leading indicators point to downturn By Kim Jae-kyoung Despite the government’s upbeat outlook, there are growing signs that the Korean economy will enter a downward path before it sees a full, sustainable recovery, with most key indicators signaling a downturn. The bleak data has ignited debate here over whether it is the beginning of another economic recession or just a passing hiccup on the path to full recovery. According to Statistics Korea, nine out of the 10 leading indicators were negative in October, meaning that Asia’s fourth largest economy is likely to cool off fast in the coming quarters. A week ago, the Bank of Korea (BOK) reported that the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew only 0.7 percent in the third quarter from a quarter ago, the slowest pace in a year and a half. It grew 2.1 percent in the first quarter and 1.4 percent in the second. The economic leading composite index in October reached 128.7, down 0.7 percent from a month ago, the first decrease since April. In particular, nine out of 10 components of the composite index,

Dec 13, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung

Companies

Korea’s GDP growth to slow to 4.5% in 2011

Economy braces for cocktail of ‘slowing growth, high inflation’ By Kim Jae-kyoung The Bank of Korea (BOK) forecast Friday that Korea will see its economic growth slow to 4.5 percent in 2011, due to the waning effect of an economic stimulus and lingering uncertainties overhanging the global economy. It predicted that the economy will expand 6.1 percent this year, the fastest growth in eight years since it grew 7.1 percent in 2002. It expects consumer-price inflation to reach a three-year high of 3.5 percent next year The outlook implies that Asia’s fourth largest economy will face a deadly cocktail of “slowing growth” and “high inflation,” forcing policymakers to choose a compromise policy mix to tackle the combination. The central bank said that the economic growth will fall to 3.8 percent in the first half of next year before bouncing back to 5 percent in the second half in line with a recovery in the global economy. It predicted that GDP will expand 4.7 percent in 2012. “Next year, the Korean economy is expected to continue an upward trend but the pace will be mo

Dec 10, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung

Companies

Consultancies’ hierarchy shifts

McKinsey foundering, Bains losing ground, BCG looking up By Kim Jae-kyoung The domestic consulting industry is undergoing a major shakeup in pecking order, with senior partners moving to rival consultancies amid rapid market growth led by growing competition among local firms to find new growth engines. The industry has been dominated by three global strategy consulting firms ― McKinsey & Company, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Bain & Company. Among them, McKinsey has been leading the industry here, while BCG and Bain were both runner-ups. However, the rapidly-changing environment triggered by the global financial crisis has changed the landscape of the industry. BCG is about to emerge as the industry leader as it recently strengthened its manpower by scouting three top-level senior partners from Bain. According to industry sources, three senior partners, including Kim Yun-hee, formerly co-head of Bain, moved to BCG. Kim is regarded by industry experts as one of the most experienced senior managers in the strategic consulting business. The move is considered

Dec 8, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung

Companies

BOK expected to freeze key rate

By Kim Jae-kyoung The Bank of Korea (BOK) is expected to keep its key rate at the current level of 2.5 percent in December due to lingering uncertainties caused by debt trouble in Europe and China’s tightening policies. The central bank raised the policy rate in November, the second increase this year, after it froze the rate for three consecutive months, from August to October. The key point at this month’s monetary policy committee meeting slated for Thursday will be how much weight the BOK will put on the risk of inflation as inflationary pressure has been relatively stable since November. Most economists said that there is no reason the BOK should make another rate hike at the moment as the economy has shown clear signs of a slowdown. They expect that the renewed fears over a debt crisis in Europe and China’s tightening policies are expected to slow a recovery of the global economy. “With slowing growth and the twin imbalances of a large current account surplus and high inflation, we expect policymakers to choose a compromise policy mix by implementing modest fisca

Dec 7, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung

Companies

Who will take charge of Shinhan Financial?

Group CEO Shin steps down, while Bank drops complaint By Kim Jae-kyoung With Shinhan Financial Group CEO Shin Sang-hoon bowing out, the group is expected to speed up efforts to find a new leader to fill the management vacuum caused by the internal feud among the three chief executives ― former Chairman Ra Eung-chan, Shin and Shinhan Bank CEO Lee Baek-soon. On Monday, Shin and Lee reached a compromise to settle the conflict in order to bring stability back to the organization. Shin expressed his intention to step down in exchange for Shinhan Bank, the flagship of the group, dropping its complaint against Shin. In a press release, Shinhan Bank said that the two chief executives reached an agreement to reconcile for the group to quickly return to regular operations and protect its corporate value. “Under the agreement, Shin will step down, while the bank dropped its complaint. They shared the view that it is urgent to be united for a common purpose amid the rapidly-changing market environment,” a bank official said. On Sept. 2, the bank filed a complaint with the pros

Dec 6, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung

Kim Jae-kyoung

Read more

Samsung plans mega high-tech complex

Rising commodity prices threaten recovery

Creditors set to nix Hyundai Groups bid for big builder

Daewoo Securities sets sights on Asian market

Korea shows fastest slowdown in OECD

Domestic economy faces warning signals

Korea’s GDP growth to slow to 4.5% in 2011

Consultancies’ hierarchy shifts

BOK expected to freeze key rate

Who will take charge of Shinhan Financial?

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