World’s Best Companies
Scope
Date
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Mergers & Acquisitions
MBK-led consortium to take over Japan’s FICT for $656 mn
MBK Partners, the largest private equity firm in North Asia, will acquire a controlling stake in FICT Ltd., a semiconductor printed circuit board (P...
Feb 06, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Artificial intelligence
LG, SNU team up to develop AI modeling for protein structure predictions
LG AI Research Institute, the artificial intelligence think-tank of LG Group, South Korea’s fourth-biggest conglomerate, on Thursday signed a ...
Feb 06, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Banking & Finance
KB Financial to buy back $359 bn in shares after record net profit in 2024
KB Financial Group Inc., South Korea’s largest financial holding group, will spend nearly 1.8 trillion won ($1.2 billion) to boost shareholder...
Feb 06, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Shipping & Shipbuilding
HD Hyundai Marine sets sights on LNG vessel retrofitting in Trump era
While the global shipbuilding industry was reeling from the economic slowdown in recent years, South Korea’s HD Hyundai Marine Solution Co., a...
Feb 05, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Bio & Pharma
Celltrion’s Vegzelma: Most-prescribed cancer treatment in Europe
South Korea’s leading biosimilar drug developer Celltrion Inc.'s Vegzelma, a cancer drug referencing global biopharma Roche’s Avastin, h...
Feb 05, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Shipping & Shipbuilding
LX Pantos enters US intermodal logistics market with Japan’s ONE
LX Pantos Co., South Korea’s largest logistics company under LX International Corp., has advanced into the US intermodal logistics market join...
Feb 05, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Beauty & Cosmetics
Korea’s beauty retailer CJ Olive Young to open first US offline outlet
CJ Olive Young Corp., South Korea’s top beauty store chain, said on Tuesday it has set up a US business entity in Los Angeles to enhance its p...
Feb 04, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Food & Beverage
Korean bakery giant SPC to build $160 mn US plant as tariff war escalates
SPC Group, the operator of South Korea’s largest bakery chain Paris Baguette as well as Paris Croissant, SPL, Dunkin and SPC GFS, is building ...
Feb 03, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Tech, Media & Telecom
South Korea’s alternative data pioneer KED Aicel in full force
South Korea’s leading alternative data service provider Hankyung Aicel Inc. is poised to transform companies' and investors’ business an...
Feb 03, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Energy
Hanwha, LG join hands to take on Tesla with solar energy package
LG and Hanwha groups will join forces to develop and sell solar energy devices as a package to challenge Tesla Inc., the leader in the solar energy ...
Feb 03, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean chipmakers
Magnachip, up for sale again, contacts Samsung, LG, LX
South Korean chipmaker Magnachip Semiconductor Corp. is on the market again four years after the US blocked a takeover by a Chinese private equity f...
Feb 02, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Economy
Korean exports snap 15 months of gains in Jan despite higher chip sales
South Korea’s exports dropped in January on-year for the first time in 16 months due to more holiday days in the month, although overseas sale...
Feb 02, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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IPOs
Korean B2B fintech firm Dozn plans Kosdaq IPO for $202.5 mn market cap
South Korea’s business-to-business fintech service provider Dozn is planning an initial public offering on the Kosdaq in February for an estim...
Jan 31, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Upcoming IPOs
Seoul Guarantee Insurance sharply cuts IPO valuation
Seoul Guarantee Insurance Co. (SGI) has slashed its target valuation by about 40% in a renewed attempt to go public on the South Korean stock exchan...
Jan 26, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean startups
AI agent Gentoo poised to revolutionize online shopping
South Korean artificial intelligence startup Waddle Corp. is gearing up to reshape the online retail industry with artificial intelligence-powered i...
Jan 24, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Batteries
SK On bags $1.8 billion EV battery deal with Nissan
Loss-making SK On Co., the world’s fifth-largest battery maker, has hit the jackpot with a $1.8 billion deal to supply electric vehicle batter...
Jan 24, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Bio & Pharma
Partners Investment, GordonMD eye $150 mn biotech fund launch
South Korean venture capital firm Partners Investment said on Thursday it will raise up to 215.5 billion won ($150 million) in a biotech fund jointl...
Jan 23, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Earnings
Hyundai Motor logs record sales for two straight years on SUVs, hybrids
South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. on Thursday posted its largest-ever sales for a second consecutive year, driven by robust sales ...
Jan 23, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Tech, Media & Telecom
KT to sell financial security unit for $59 mn for restructuring
South Korea’s KT Corp. is set to sell Initech Co., its Kosdaq-listed financial security unit, for 85 billion won ($59.1 million) as the leadin...
Jan 23, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Webtoons
Naver Webtoon's Stagtown to be cinematized by Hollywood
South Korea's Naver Webtoon said on Thursday its horror series Stagtown, popular in the US, will be made into a movie by Hollywood.Stagtown was di...
Jan 23, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Economy
S.Korea’s economy grows 2.0% in 2024; Q4 GDP below forecast
South Korea’s economy expanded 2.0% last year, falling short of the central bank’s forecast on weaker-than-expected growth in the fourth...
Jan 23, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Electronics
Samsung Electronics' new Galaxy S25 smartphone: 'Perfect AI assistant'
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Last year, Samsung Electronics Co. scored a first-mover advantage with consumers by introducing the Galaxy S24 as an AI sma...
Jan 23, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Korea’s Cactus PE to buy stake in Kosdaq-listed EV parts firm
South Korea’s Cactus Private Equity is set to acquire a stake in YM Tech Co., a Kosdaq-listed electric vehicle (EV) parts maker, for nearly 20...
Jan 22, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Energy
Hanwha Q Cells sells two solar power plant projects in US
Hanwha Q Cells Co., a solar panel manufacturing arm of South Korea's Hanwha Solutions Corp., said on Wednesday that it sold its two large-scale sola...
Jan 22, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Beauty & Cosmetics
Amorepacific's Aestura to enter US market with Sephora
South Korean beauty and cosmetics giant Amorepacific Corp. said on Wednesday that its derma cosmetic brand Aestura will enter the American market wi...
Jan 22, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean chipmakers
SK Hynix sharply narrows gap with Samsung’s market cap
SK Hynix Inc. has significantly raised its value by bolstering its presence in the artificial intelligence memory market, threatening Samsung Electr...
Jan 22, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Airlines
Sono Hospitality heralds proxy fight to control T’way Air
Sono Hospitality Group, South Korea’s top resort operator, has vowed to more actively horn in on the business of T'way Air Co., portending a p...
Jan 22, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Retail
Coupang Eats starts food delivery service in Japan
Coupang Eats, a food delivery app operated by South Korea's No. 1 e-commerce platform Coupang Inc., launched its first overseas service in Japan.Acc...
Jan 22, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Business & Politics
Samsung, LG consider moving electronics plants to US from Mexico
South Korea’s leading electronics companies such as Samsung and LG are considering moving their plants in Mexico to the US to respond to Presi...
Jan 21, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)
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Regulations
South Korea to tighten delisting rules to remove ailing firms
South Korea will sharply raise the threshold for listed companies to remain trading on the domestic stock market to facilitate the delisting of fina...
Jan 21, 2025 (Gmt+09:00)