Activist fund managers at home and abroad are expected to play a bigger role in the forthcoming proxy season this year in South Korea that starts in March. Seoul-based proxy advisory services firm Korea Corporate Governance Service said in a report Tuesday the shareholders of the companies subject to proxy battle needs closer monitoring, as their results are “unpredictable.” Homegrown private equity firms including Korea Corporate Governance Improvement and HYK Partners are expecte

Market Feb. 13, 2021

A top researcher of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock expressed regrets on Tuesday over the retaliation aimed at hedge funds for taking short positions in the United States’ stock market in the GameStop saga. Henny Sender, managing director of the asset manager‘s internal think tank BlackRock Investment Institute, said it was “a sad thing” that retail stock traders had directed their anger at hedge funds. Ensuring hedge funds are given an option to perce

Market Feb. 9, 2021

Once the fastest emerging source of foreign capital into European real estate asset investments, South Korea‘s investors were seen redirecting their attention to the Americas in 2020, data showed Monday. According to data from US-based property market tracker Real Capital Analytics, Korea’s capital going directly into assets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, each valued at $10 million or greater, fell by 78 percent on-year to $3 billion in 2020. Koreans in 2019 were the

Market Feb. 8, 2021

South Korea‘s outbound real asset investors are looking to set up operations in the United States to get around restrictions in foreign due diligence, deal sourcing and property management, as the coronavirus pandemic has added to uncertainties in the market dynamics. Aside from the need for a breakthrough in cross-border alternative investment, Korean capital moving to property -- one of the fastest-growing sectors in the US -- is seen as preemptively laying the groundwork for a local pr

Market Feb. 7, 2021

South Korea‘s investment house Mirae Asset Global Investments said on Thursday it has launched a new equity fund to invest in domestic companies with clean technology prowess. With the launch, Mirae Asset aims to ride on the green wave among financiers that is triggering a seismic shift across the industries. Its portfolio will mainly comprise of Korean firms dedicated to solar, wind and hydroelectric power resources, waste management, electric vehicles, hydrogen cars, as well as smart

Market Feb. 4, 2021

South Korea‘s law firm Yulchon said Wednesday it has signed a strategic partnership with international consultancy firm Environmental Resources Management to strengthen its corporate legal advisory capability with respect to environmental, social and governance, or ESG, issues. The partnership is a leap forward from Yulchon’s move in December to establish an in-house unit devoted to legal advice as to how corporate clients should cope with ESG issues, such as regulatory risk manage

Market Feb. 3, 2021

JPMorgan Asset Management has increased its stake in the ailing Korean travel agency Modetour Network to 7.47 percent, banking on a rebound in the post-COVID era despite piling losses, a filing showed Wednesday. Three of JPMorgan Asset Management subsidiaries obtained an additional 1.07 percent stake, or some 200,000 ordinary shares, in Modetour from December 2019 to January this year, according to the filing. This solidified JPMorgan’s position as the firm’s second-largest share

Market Feb. 3, 2021

An investor consortium led by US auto retailer HAAH Automotive is ready to lay out plans to buy a stake in troubled South Korean automaker SsangYong Motor once it presents its reorganization plan to creditors, Korea’s state-run lender Korea Development Bank said Tuesday. SsangYong Motor is a lossmaking South Korean arm of Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra. Senior officials of KDB, SsangYong Motor’s main creditor, said that the reorganization plan is a prerequisite to the co

Market Feb. 2, 2021

South Korea‘s institutional investor, the Public Officials Benefit Association, is poised to commit 300 billion won ($268.6 million) to alternative asset manager Koramco Asset Management for its investment in commercial real estate, Koramco said Monday. Using the fresh fund, Koramco will mainly target prime office buildings in Seoul and the neighboring Bundang business district in Gyeonggi Province. The fund will be managed under the POBA guideline where 60 percent of the cash will be de

Market Feb. 1, 2021

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday it has partnered with state-run lender Korea Development Bank to create a fund of 74.5 billion won ($66.6 million) to support open innovation of the South Korean automaker giant and its supply chain. The fund primarily targets domestic startups dedicated to eco-friendly cars and smart cars, as well as companies with futuristic mobility technologies with regards to urban air mobility and purpose-built vehicles. Major backers of the fund include Hyundai Motor, K

Market Feb. 1, 2021

South Korean investors were net sellers of US-based video game retailer GameStop solely on the day when the short squeeze started to materialize, data showed Sunday. Korean investors -- both individuals and corporations -- net sold GameStop shares worth $54 million on Tuesday, according to the latest data from the Korea Securities Depository. Trading data from Wednesday, when GameStop‘s share price peaked, was not available as the foreign securities settlement date is three business days

Market Jan. 31, 2021

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, owned over 5 percent of Seoul-based LG Display ordinary shares as of January without the purpose of shareholder engagement, a filing showed Sunday. BlackRock Fund Advisor, a fully owned subsidiary of BlockRock, and its 13 specially related parties held a combined 17.8 million common shares in the South Korean company for 375.1 billion won ($335.7 million) as of Jan. 22. They have some 100,000 shares in the form of American depositary receipts

Market Jan. 31, 2021

Seoul-based investment house Korea Investment Management said Thursday that it has rebranded three open-ended equity funds to cater to the diversified needs of South Korean retail investors. The three open-ended equity funds have ditched their respective strategies and shifted their focus to the domestic technology sector; to sectors benefiting from the Korean New Deal initiative, such as batteries, biotechnology, internet and games; and to environmental, social and governance factors. Accor

Market Jan. 28, 2021

Netherlands-based investor NN Investment Partners said Thursday the search for yield will make emerging markets the most attractive destination for bond investors, but that South Korea was not likely to be their first choice. “Although Korea is part of the emerging market universe in indices, it is much closer to the developed than many other emerging market universe,” Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen, chief investment officer of NNIP, said in a teleconference with Korean reporters. &

Market Jan. 28, 2021

South Korean investment firm Truston Asset Management said Wednesday that it is establishing a fund to invest in companies that have room for improvement in their environmental, social and governance standards, and to make changes through shareholder activism if necessary. The company, which managed assets worth 9.3 trillion won ($8.4 billion) as of end-2020, aims to raise some 500 billion won from public distribution channels in the nation, where unorthodox family business succession plans to

Market Jan. 27, 2021