South Korean builders, facing at least 4 trillion won ($3.75 billion) in debt repayments by the end of June, are turning to equity instruments to bolster depleted balance sheets that have deterred bond investors.GS Engineering & Construction Corp. plans to raise 523.6 billion won selling shares, the company said Feb. 18. SK Engineering & Construction Co. and Lotte Engineering & Construction Co. sold ordinary and preferred stock in December. Yields paid on three-year notes from builders with loca

GS Group, the nation’s eighth-largest conglomerate by assets, is expected to further tap the power business beyond its three core businesses of oil refinery, construction and retail. This shift was reflected by the launch of GS E&R, a new affiliate focusing on the power business, last week. GS E&R is the new corporate name of STX Energy, which GS Group took over last December with LG International from Japan’s Orix Corp. for about 600 billion won ($564 million).GS Group aggressively sought the d

South Korean companies on Wednesday said their consortium won a multi-billion dollar oil refinery and petrochemical plant project in Kuwait.The project, ordered by the Kuwait National Petroleum Co., is for an update of eco-friendly production systems at the existing Mina Al Ahmadhi and Mina Abdullah facilities so that sulfur content of petroleum products will fall under 5 percent whenwork is completed. The $12 billion Clean Fuels Project, moreover, calls for the expansion of combined oil refinin

Two former chiefs of large local builders on Thursday received suspended jail sentences for collusion in the former Lee Myung-bak administration’s highly controversial project to refurbish the country’s four major rivers.The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kim Jung-gyeom, former chief of Hyundai Construction & Engineering Co., to eight months in jail with a one-year stay of execution. Seo Jong-wuk, the ex-president of Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., was given a jail term of one and

The corporate rankings of South Korea’s large businesses fluctuated sharply last year with further changes expected in 2014 as many struggle to cope with difficult times, local data showed Wednesday.According to CEO Score, an online corporate productivity evaluation site, the rise and fall of conglomerates in 2013 was the most volatile since the 1998 Asian financial crisis.STX, Tongyang and Woongjin groups faced outright dissolution or came close to losing their status as three of the 50 largest

Nearly half of South Korea's listed companies saw their operating profit fall on-year in the third quarter, data showed Thursday, as the economic slump weighed down on builders and chemical firms.Of the 51 companies listed on the country's main stock market that announced their earnings for the July-September period, 23 firms suffered a decline in their net profit from a year earlier, according to the data by FnGuide.The financial information provider said the weak performances among local liste

Local constructors, which saw all-time low sales performances in the first quarter, pledged to make up for their losses by year-end. But industry watchers said even with countermeasures it would be implausible due to the continued market slump and government sanctions.The state-run Korea Water Resources Corp., or K-water, last week imposed a ban on 10 construction companies for rigging the bid on the four-river restoration project.As a result, the country’s top builders including Hyundai Enginee

The country’s major construction companies are expected to have suffered a drop in their earnings in the third quarter of the year, data showed Thursday, in the latest sign of trouble for local builders amid a protracted slump.The combined net profits of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. and four other builders are projected to reach 430 billion won ($404 million) in the July-September period, down 43 percent from the same period last year, according t

GS Engineering & Construction Corp., South Korea’s fourth-largest builder, said Monday it will build a $3.7 billion petrochemical plant in Kazakhstan with British and German partners.GS E&C said the proposed plant in the Tengiz and Karabatan regions, about 1,500 kilometers southwest of the capital Astana, will have an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons of polyethylene, a raw material used in making plastics.The South Korean builder said its share of the project came to $1.4 billion, with

Warrants have been sought for six incumbent and former executives of four local major builders on suspicions of colluding in the former Lee Myung-bak administration's highly controversial project to refurbish the country's four major rivers, prosecutors said Wednesday.The four -- Hyundai Construction & Engineering Co., GS Engineering & Construction Co., SK Engineering & Construction Co. and Samsung C&T Corp. -- allegedly colluded to win bids for the first phase of the mega-budget project, which

Nearly one out of three South Korean listed construction companies posted net losses in the first half of this year, data showed Monday, due to the protracted property slump from home and abroad.According to the data by market researcher FnGuide, 18 out of South Korea’s 58 listed builders posted a net loss in the January-June period, with 13 of them moving inversely to shortfalls from six months earlier.GS Engineering & Construction Co. saw its net loss reach 554.6 billion won ($499.6 million) i

Korea Water Resources Corp., or K-water, has completed price negotiations with the Thai government over a Thai water management and flood prevention scheme, raising hopes that the preferred bidder will win the massive project.“Both sides agreed to set the cost at 6.1 trillion won ($5.3 billion) to proceed modules A5 and A3 out of nine modules, which the Korean company won,’’ the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in its statement on Wednesday. The A-5 project to build floodways

GS Engineering & Construction Corp., South Korea’s fourth-largest builder, said Tuesday that it has won a $1.03 billion order to build an oil refinery plant in Turkey.The deal is part of a $3.45 billion deal that was signed between Star Refining Inc. and a consortium led by TR, Spain’s leading engineering company, on Monday. The consortium also includes Italian oil service group Saipem and Japan’s Itochu Corp.Star Refining is a joint venture between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic a

Prosecutors raided more than 30 construction firms Wednesday that are suspected of creating slush funds, embezzlement and price-fixing in connection with the four-river refurbishment project under the former Lee Myung-bak administration. Scores of investigators from two teams at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office searched the headquarters and local offices of GS Engineering & Construction, Daewoo E&C, SK E&C, Samsung C&T Corp, and POSCO E&C, in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and South Jeol

South Korean stocks closed 1.24 percent lower Thursday due to rising concerns over the listed firms' earnings for the first quarter, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 23.78 points to finish at 1900.06. Trading volume was moderate at 336.9 million shares worth 4.2 trillion won (US$3.75 billion) with losers outnumbering gainers 464 to 339.  "Investors sat on the sidelines as the first-quarter earnings of l