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Economy

Mirae Asset, NH, Hana, Shinhan alarmed by Vegas casino project

The Drew Las Vegas / Courtesy of Witkoff GroupKorean investors at risk of losing 300 billion wonBy Park Jae-hyukKorean institutional and individual investors who invested in the stalled Drew Las Vegas construction project are at risk of losing up to 300 billion won ($270 million), according to industry sources, Sunday. The institutional and individual investors are reportedly considering filing lawsuits against the brokerage firms ― Mirae Asset Daewoo, NH Investment & Securities, Hana Financial Investment and Shinhan Financial Investment ― over their highly probable losses.The dispute over the U.S. casino-resort erupted after senior lenders including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank decided to divest from the project by selling the security interest on their loans.The plan to build a 68-story, five-star hotel with 3,780 guest rooms and a casino has faced concerns ever since it was halted last March amid the COVID-19 pandemic and its developer Witkoff Group virtually defaulted on a $2 billion project loan last May.According to sources, the foreign investment banks asked

Feb 14, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
Mirae Asset, NH, Hana, Shinhan alarmed by Vegas casino project
Economy

Hana Financial chief will likely extend term

Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tai / Courtesy of Hana Financial GroupBy Lee Min-hyungHana Financial Group headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Hana Financial GroupHana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tai will likely have his tenure extended next month, as the group needs to pursue stable growth amid uncertainties due to COVID-19. Kim's lack of legal risk also raises the likelihood for a potential fourth term.The financial holding firm's chairman recommendation committee plans to draw up a shortlist by the end of February, and a possible new term for Kim is expected to be confirmed during the group's shareholders meeting slated for March.Hana has yet to fix the specific timeline for the meeting, but chances are the committee will soon release an official statement regarding the shortlist.“We have not confirmed when to announce the shortlist, but it will be done in the next couple of weeks,” a spokesman at Hana said Wednesday.The committee is known to be considering 20 candidates for Hana's next chairman ― including the incumbent leader and two of the group's three

Feb 10, 2021By Lee Min-hyung
Hana Financial chief will likely extend term
Economy

Job market woes deepen in Korea

January figure comparable to 1998 Asian financial crisis By Lee Kyung-min Korea shed 982,000 jobs in January following social distancing measures that were strengthened on Dec. 8 due to a third wave of COVID-19 infections, continuing a rapid decline in jobs seen over the previous 11 months.Data from Statistics Korea showed Wednesday that the year-on-year decline of nearly 1 million jobs amid the pandemic was the sharpest drop, comparable to 1.27 million lost in December 1998 in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.Employment data in the forthcoming months is not expected to show a dramatic recovery since small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remained shut for the final two months of 2020 and have barely resumed operation in January.The 11-consecutive-month decline is the second-longest period of worsening unemployment since the 16 months from January 1998 to April 1999 following the Asian financial crisis. It already surpassed the previous eight consecutive months of decline from January to August in 2009 during the global financial crisis. Seoul National University econo

Feb 10, 2021By Lee Kyung-min
Job market woes deepen in Korea
Economy

Kakao Bank may suffer from overhang issues

Kakao Bank headquarters located in Pangyo / Korea Times file /2021-01-28(코리아타임스)By Anna J. ParkAs Kakao Bank prepares for its initial public offering (IPO) to take place sometime this year, market watchers are eyeing whether the company's large shareholders would sell their stakes in the internet bank before the IPO, causing a stock overhang.A stock overhang happens when a massive amount of shares are offloaded by shareholders who hold a large stake, depressing the share price as the amount dilutes the stock's value. Concerns about overhanging stocks are being voiced because market insiders suspect that internet-based bookstore YES24 ― one of the large shareholders of the mobile bank ― might further sell its shares to venture capital companies. YES24 announced that it sold around 1.93 million shares of Kakao Bank for 48.4 billion won ($43.4 million) to a private equity firm (PEF). With the sales, YES24 currently holds 1.4 percent of the bank's shares, or 5.68 million shares. Given the online-based bookstore company's deteriorated finance situation, venture capital companies are said

Feb 10, 2021By Anna J. Park
Kakao Bank may suffer from overhang issues
Economy

Coupang to go public on NASDAQ as early as H1

Coupang headquarters located in southern Seoul / Korea Times fileBy Anna J. ParkCoupang's long-held dream of getting listed on the NASDAQ market seems to be one step closer to realization. The Korean e-commerce giant has been outspoken since its 2010 launch that it would pursue a NASDAQ listing to advance into overseas markets.Coupang's specific listing timeline on the U.S. stock market is expected to be determined sometime around March; if things go well, its initial public offering (IPO) process could be completed within the first half of this year. Coupang's parent company, Coupang LLC ― the e-commerce firm's U.S.-registered corporation which owns 100 percent of Coupang's shares ― is expected to be the subject of the IPO. SoftBank's Vision Fund holds a 37 percent stake in Coupang. According to industry sources, Coupang reportedly passed a preliminary review last month, a process necessary for its NASDAQ listing. Its main IPO underwriter Goldman Sachs is currently known to be holding a series of investor relations presentations to attract investors from both within and outside of t

Feb 10, 2021By Anna J. Park
Coupang to go public on NASDAQ as early as H1
Economy

Korea's pandemic containment, economic support measures lauded by OECD

OECD logoWide disparities between regular and non-regular workers a major sticking point By Lee Kyung-min Korea's balanced response to the COVID-19 pandemic limited the damage to the economy and people's livelihoods, underpinned by early and decisive testing, tracking and treatment, which helped the country avoid a full lockdown, a report jointly released by the OECD and Korea Development Institute (KDI) said Tuesday. The OECD is short for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of 37 high-income countries.Korea's export-reliant economy has played an important role for other peers around the world as a leading producer of medical test kits, despite its vulnerabilities to disruption in the global value chain (GVC).Strong and rapidly implemented fiscal and monetary policy measures designed to support households and businesses helped the Korean economy suffer far less contraction compared to other OECD economies in 2020.Yet the labor market being disrupted by reduced working hours, job losses and the enforced shutdown of some businesses remain key challenges to be

Feb 10, 2021By Lee Kyung-min
Korea's pandemic containment, economic support measures lauded by OECD
Economy

Institutional investors urged to embrace ESG: BlackRock

By Lee Min-hyungBlackRock Managing Director Henny SenderA senior official from BlackRock has urged institutional investors here and abroad to embrace environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors as part of their risk management efforts.BlackRock Managing Director Henny Sender said the COVID-19 pandemic increased momentum for the eco-friendly drive in the investment industry. She said investors from both the private and public sectors should realize the importance of ESG and make concrete efforts to embrace it for their sustainable growth.“On an objective level, to not think about ESG is a big risk,” she said during a webinar hosted by the Institute for Global Economics, Tuesday.“So in a way, it's all about risk management as an institutional firm who is a fiduciary for our clients' money. It's a kind of risk management and a smart policy when you invest. Capitalists and companies cannot just take a short-term view about maximizing shareholder benefits.”Starting from March last year when the global economy was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemi

Feb 9, 2021By Lee Min-hyung
Institutional investors urged to embrace ESG: BlackRock
Economy

Tesla CEO Musk to facilitate crypto demand in Korea

SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during a conversation with legendary game designer Todd Howard at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, June 13, 2019. / Reuters-Yonhap Financial giants invest in crypto custody market amid larger acceptance of bitcoinBy Anna J. Park Since Tesla made an announcement in an SEC filing on Monday that the global electric vehicle (EV) maker not only bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin but also will accept the cryptocurrency as payment for its vehicle purchases, bitcoin's price jumped by more than 10 percent a few hours after the filing. Bitcoin continued to soar to its record-high level, at one point topping $47,000 on Tuesday.With bitcoin solidifying its presence through acknowledgements by moguls like Elon Musk, more and more companies are expected to take a similar path as Tesla, having the crypto token be part of their diversified asset portfolios or using it in their business expansion models. As more institutional or

Feb 9, 2021By Anna J. Park
Tesla CEO Musk to facilitate crypto demand in Korea
Economy

Seegene vows to prevent recurrence of accounting fraud

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, left, listens to a researcher at Seegene Medical Foundation's laboratory in Seoul, Jan. 6. / Joint press corpsCOVID-19 test kit maker fined for cooking the booksBy Park Jae-hyukSeegene, a local molecular diagnosis company that has drawn attention for its COVID-19 test kits, vowed to practice transparent management to prevent the recurrence of accounting fraud, a day after the financial regulator decided to fine the company for exaggerating its earnings.The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), under the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said Monday evening that the fifth-largest company on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market by market capitalization was found to have overstated its sales between 2011 and 2019, by dumping its oversupplied products on its agencies.The SFC agreed to levy a fine on the firm and to advise it to dismiss the executive who handled it.The company could be fined more than 500 million won ($450,000), as the SFC said the specific amount of the fine would be finalized in the following FSC meeting. If a fine is to exceed 500 million w

Feb 9, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
Seegene vows to prevent recurrence of accounting fraud
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