Legal basis:
– The Foreign Investment Promotion Act.
A foreigner who intends to make a foreign investment by any of the methods shall, in advance, report thereon to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy.
However, there are still some exceptions that a foreigner intending to make a foreign investment by any of the following methods may report thereon within 60 days from the acquisition of stocks, such as:
– Where the foreigner acquires existing stocks issued by a listed stock corporation (excluding public purpose corporations and corporations that are restricted from acquiring stocks);
– Where the foreigner acquires stocks issued upon capitalizing reserves of the relevant foreign-invested company, revaluation reserves thereof, or other reserves;
– Where the foreigner acquires stocks of a surviving corporation or a newly incorporated corporation after a merger, all-inclusive stock swap or transfer, or spinoff by means of stocks he or she is holding at the time of the relevant foreign-invested company’s merger, all-inclusive stock swap or transfer with another company, or spinoff;
– Where the foreigner acquires stocks of a foreign-invested company by means of purchase, inheritance, testamentary gift, or gift from a foreign investor;
– Where the foreigner acquires stocks by investing the proceeds from the stocks acquired under the statutes of Korea;
– Where the foreigner acquires stocks, etc. using convertible bonds, exchangeable bonds, stock depositary receipts, and such similar ones as bonds or receipts that may be converted into, taken over as, or exchanged for stocks,…
Upon receipt of a report filed, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy shall issue a certificate of completion of the report to the relevant person without delay.
