South Korea's top soft drink maker Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. said Thursday that it decided to absorb and merge with Lotte Liquor BG Co., its alcoholic beverage affiliate, to boost shareholder value. Lotte Chilsung said the merger will take effect on Oct. 1, and the merger ratio will be 1:0. Lotte Chilsung holds a 100 percent stake in Lotte Liquor.

Gangnam-gu, Seoul -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/14/2011 -- Fisher Capital Management Korea Latest News Update: Lotte Chilsung absorbs liquor affiliate

South Korea's top soft drink maker Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. said Thursday that it decided to absorb and merge with Lotte Liquor BG Co., its alcoholic beverage affiliate, to boost shareholder value.

Lotte Chilsung said the merger will take effect on Oct. 1, and the merger ratio will be 1:0. Lotte Chilsung holds a 100 percent stake in Lotte Liquor.

"The merger is aimed at maximizing shareholder value by improving our earnings structure and laying the foundation for sustainable growth," Lotte Chilsung said in a statement.

Lotte Chilsung set up Lotte Liquor in 2009 when it took over the liquor business of Doosan Corp. for 503 billion won (US$447.9 million).

Lotte Chilsung reported 1.3 trillion won in sales in 2010, with Lotte Liquor's revenue reaching 404 billion won in sales. Lotte Chilsung is a subsidiary of Lotte Group, one of the leading conglomerates in South Korea.

Shares of Lotte Chilsung rose 0.14 percent to 1.46 million won on the Seoul bourse as of 10:45 a.m.

brk@yna.co.kr

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2011/07/28/77/0501000000AEN20110728002900320F.HTML

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Gangnam-Gu, Seoul -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/19/2011 -- South Korean banks' deposits increased 3.2 percent in the first half as the economic recovery and higher deposit rates lured customers into relatively safe assets, industry data showed Tuesday.

Deposits held by local six banks including top lender Kookmin Bank amounted to 810.5 trillion won (US$761 billion) as of end-June, up 24.8 trillion won from the end of last year, according to the data.

Five major banks saw their deposits rise in the first half, but deposits at Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), controlled by U.S. buyout fund Lone Star Funds, declined in the cited period, spawning market concerns that its capacity to do business may be dented.

Deposits at KEB, South Korea's No. 5 lender, reached 67.5 trillion won as of the end of last month, down 1.8 trillion won from six months earlier. Compared with a year ago, its deposits fell by 1.97 trillion won, data showed.

The data came as the protracted sale of KEB and Lone Star's receipt of a record interim dividend are raising uncertainty surrounding the bank's business.

Hana Financial Group Inc. agreed on Friday to extend a deal to buy KEB within six months at a lower price of 4.41 trillion won amid the regulator's delay in its review of Lone Star's eligibility as the top shareholder of KEB.

KEB's decision to pay out a quarterly dividend caused Lone Star to rake in dividends worth 496.9 billion won. The decision invited public criticism that the fund is trying to exit the Korean market after fattening its pockets.

But an official at KEB said that the decline in deposits mainly resulted from seasonal factors, not from a customer exodus, adding that given the size of its assets, the volume of deposits and loans remained at an appropriate level.

KEB's total assets stood at 106.2 trillion won at the end of March, up 6.8 percent from three months earlier. KEB's market share in foreign exchange markets accounted for 47.5 percent as of end-May, up from 43.5 percent the previous month.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

Fisher Capital Management Latest News: Bank deposits rise 3.2 pct in H1
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Gangnam-Gu, Seoul -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/19/2011 -- A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll confirms what other recent surveys have shown: The bump that President Obama received in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death has receded. And amid renewed pessimism about the direction of the country, voters' desire to re-elect the president has reverted to levels seen earlier this spring.

Obama's approval rating sits at 49 percent, three points lower than last month -- and equal to his approval rating in April. The percentage of Americans who disapprove of Obama rose five points over the last month to 46 percent, one point higher than the April poll.

A majority of Americans still disapproves of the job that Obama is doing in handling the economy, though that number has rebounded slightly from the record low set last month. Now 41 percent approves of Obama's economic performance, up from just 37 percent in May.

After a brief uptick in May, the percentage of Americans who see the U.S. as off on the wrong track has risen to 62 percent.

That is taking a toll on Obama's re-election prospects. As in May, 45 percent of registered voters say they will probably vote for Obama in November 2012. While that number has stayed constant, the percentage of voters who say they will probably vote for the Republican candidate has risen 10 points in the last month, to 40 percent. The five-point lead Obama holds over a generic Republican is equal to margins recorded in April and February.

Obama's lead over the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is now just six points among registered voters, 49 percent to 43 percent.

That is down from a nine-point advantage for Obama in February.

Romney leads among a smaller sample of national Republican primary voters. Romney is the preferred choice of 30 percent of Republicans in the poll, with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in second place at 14 percent. Businessman Herman Cain is third with 12 percent, and Texas Gov.Rick Perry is fourth at 8 percent.

Americans are not only taking their frustration out of the administration. The percentage of Americans who approve of how Congress is handling its job is only 18 percent, the lowest rating since March 2010. A whopping 74 percent of Americans disapprove of the legislative branch.

Voters are now split on which party they would like to see control Congress after the 2012 elections: 44 percent prefer a Democratic Congress, and 44 percent prefer a GOP-controlled Congress. In the final poll before the 2010 elections, Democrats held a two-point lead on this question but lost 63 seats in the House, handing control of that chamber to Republicans.

The poll was conducted June 9-13 by a bipartisan team led by Democratic pollster Peter Hart and Republican pollster Bill McInturff. The sample size for all adults is 1,000, for a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent. There were 836 registered voters; those results carry a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percent. For the Republican presidential primary, the sample size was quite a bit smaller: 242 voters were surveyed, for a higher margin of error of +/- 6.3 percent.

Fisher Capital Management Latest News: NBC/WSJ Poll: Warning Signs For Obama
http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2011/06/nbcwsj-poll-war.php

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The state's Consumer Credit Protection Bureau says a fake company is offering fictitious loans to consumers who send money in advance.

Gangnam-gu, Seoul -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/28/2011 -- Fisher Capital Management Warning: Maine Regulators Warn of Fake Lending Scam

http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineHeadlineNews/tabid/968/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3479/ItemId/16757/Default.aspx

The state's Consumer Credit Protection Bureau says a fake company is offering fictitious loans to consumers who send money in advance.

State financial regulators are warning about a scam by what officials are decribing as a "fake" lender purported to be located in Wells, Maine.

David Leach of the state Consumer Credit Protection Bureau says "North Lake Equity Group" has offered loans by telephone and over the Internet to consumers in several states, if potential borrowers make several payments to the company in advance.

Leach says the address of the unlicensed company is fictitious and that it corresponds to an undeveloped lot between Wells Highs School and the Wells Town office.

"When we cut the press release we had three folks that had been contacted by the company and at least one that had been victimized," he says. "And now, actually this morning, I got a call from a Maryland consumer who had lost over $1,900."

Leach says in the United States, advanced fee consumer loans are illegal.

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