The husband of Lee Boo-jin, the eldest daughter of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, has reportedly refused to sign divorce papers after they failed to agree on custody and parental rights for their son. “Lee’s husband has no intention to divorce and nothing has changed from his stance,” his lawyer told reporters.Im has refused to give up legal guardianship and parental rights of the two’s 9-year-old son, but this is the first time for him to publicly announce that he does not want a divorce.

Industry Aug. 7, 2015

 The spat between the two sons of Lotte Group founder and general chairman Shin Kyuk-ho is taking a nasty turn ahead of the coming shareholders meeting to decide his successor.Shin Dong-joo, the first son, stepped up his offensive against his rival and younger brother Shin Dong-bin on Sunday, expressing confidence in winning the vote.Dong-joo is a former vice chairman of Lotte Holdings, the de facto control tower of the Lotte empire in Korea and Japan, while Dong-bin is currently chairman of Seo

Industry Aug. 2, 2015

Attention is being paid to U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott Associates’ next step after it suffered a defeat in a shareholders vote on a merger deal between Samsung C&T and its sister firm last week.At the crucial vote on Friday, nearly 70 percent of Samsung C&T shareholders supported a merger with Cheil Industries. The vote ended C&T’s six-week battle with the fund, which had sought to thwart the Samsung merger plan.After Friday’s result, Elliott said it would reserve all options at its disposa

Industry July 19, 2015

A police officer enters a Hanwha Chemical plant in Ulsan as part of an investigation into a deadly explosion there on July 4. (Yonhap) Officials clean up the debris from the explosion at the Hanwha Chemical plant in Ulsan on July 7. (Yonhap)The investigation into the deadly explosion at Hanwha Chemical Corp. is pointing to long-established negligence and lax safety management as the cause of The investigation into the deadly explosion at Hanwha Chemical Corp. is pointing to long-established negl

Industry July 13, 2015

The investigation into the deadly explosion at Hanwha Chemical Corp. is pointing to long-established negligence and lax safety management as the cause of the deadly accident. Since the explosion took the lives of six workers of the Hanwha subcontractor -- Hyundai Environment -- on July 3, the authorities have been probing into the accident.  A number of officials from both companies including the chiefs of Hyundai Environment and Hanwha Chemical’s safety team are under suspicion of being respons

Industry July 13, 2015

Samsung C&T, the trading and construction unit of Samsung Group, has reiterated its goal to double its annual sales following its tie-up with Cheil Industries, the group’s de facto holding company.Samsung C&T claimed that synergies after the proposed merger with Cheil would bring in about 60 trillion won ($54 billion) in sales with net income before taxes reaching 4 trillion won by 2020.The company said the combined entity, if approved by shareholders in a meeting on July 17, would diversify its

Industry July 7, 2015

Content Media, a U.K.-based distributor of films and other media content, is hoping to use Korea as a jump-off for Asian expansion.  Content Media’s China unit chairman Bruno Wu. Seoul IRIn a recent interview with The Korea Herald, chief of Content Media’s Chinese operations Bruno Wu said the company would roll out measures to market media contents developed in Korea across the global market. “Through measures such as investing in Korean production firms, (the company) plans to raise the standar

Industry July 6, 2015

U.S. hedge fund Elliott Associates faces a new challenge in its aim to derail the proposed merger of two Samsung Group units, as the prosecution launched an investigation into allegations that Elliott fabricated information in a regulatory filing. Elliott, the third-largest shareholder of Samsung C&T with a 7.1 percent stake, has been seeking to thwart Samsung’s plan to merge Cheil Industries, the de facto holding company, with the Korean group’s construction and trading unit Samsung C&T. It has

Industry July 5, 2015

DANGJIN, South Chungcheong Province ― Massive, red hot steel plates shot by along the rollers and back again.The heat inside Hyundai Steel’s Dangjin plant was high, but the speed and precision with which steel plates were being prepared for further processing was overwhelming. A few short decades ago, Korea was little more than a war-torn and ruined country, and its steel industry was able to get off the ground only as a result of the government’s relentless drive. Hyundai Steel’s plant faciliti

Industry July 2, 2015

Samsung C&T on Wednesday expressed confidence in winning at a shareholders meeting on July 17, where its merger deal with Cheil Industries will be put to a vote.The construction unit of Samsung Group also expected limited impact of Institutional Shareholder Services‘ stance on its merger with Cheil Industries.Samsung C&T's headquarters in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul. YonhapISS is a U.S. advisory firm that evaluates corporate issues on behalf of shareholders and provides advice to vote on those i

Industry July 1, 2015

Cheil Industries announced Tuesday that it will increase dividend payouts to investors in an apparent attempt to win over stakeholders’ approval of its proposed merger with Samsung C&T.In a bid to sway shareholders, Cheil Industries, the de facto holding company of Samsung Group, called an impromptu investor relations session in Seoul to announce that the payout ratio would gradually be raised to 30 percent by 2020 from 21 percent in 2014.  Yoon Joo-hwa, the head of Cheil Industries’ fashion div

Industry June 30, 2015

EBay Korea, the operator of Korea’s largest online shopping site Gmarket and Auction.co.kr, signed a deal with the Small & Medium Business Corporation to support domestic small and medium-sized company’s online cross-border trade last week. The pact will help vendors receive eBay For Business, a seven-month training and education program on cross-border commerce and marketing via the eBay platform. Launched in May, the program covers the areas of product sourcing, registration, logistics, delive

Industry June 29, 2015

Shareholders of defense equipment maker Samsung Techwin approved a plan to change its name to Hanwha Techwin amid strong opposition from its labor union members on Monday.Samsung Techwin’s labor union members protest against its plan to change the name to Hanwha Techwin on Monday. YonhapThe meeting had planned to open early in the morning, but was delayed for hours due to physical protests from the union members, who opposed Hanwha‘s takeover of the company.More than 140 union supporters were ta

Industry June 29, 2015

Icis 8.0 mineral water from Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. is making a splash in the country’s tightly contested bottled water market. Launched in August 2011, Icis 8.0 has gained much popularity in a relatively short period of time, aided by the optimized mineral content and eye-catching packaging. The product is bottled in North Chungcheong Province with pH 8 natural mineral water, which the company says offers the optimal calcium-magnesium balance. In addition, the company has applied eco-friend

Industry June 25, 2015

Solvay Group CEO Jean-Pierre Clamadieu (left) and the Korean unit head Pyung Suk-koo on Monday vowed to focus on the Korean market as the center of research for high-tech materials, at a news conference to celebrate the group’s 40th anniversary since launching in Korea. (Solvay Korea)

Industry June 22, 2015