Last year, the number of corporate merger cases the Korea Fair Trade Commission completed reviewing fell, while the combined value increased. The rise was driven by many large-scale corporate mergers.
According to the 2025 merger review trends that the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) released on the 4th, there were 590 corporate merger review cases last year, down 26% from the previous year's 798. By contrast, the combined value rose 30% over the same period to 358.3 trillion won. The combined value refers to the share acquisition amount if the merger was done by purchasing the other company's shares, and the business transfer amount if it was done by acquiring a specific business unit. On this, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said, "There were relatively many large corporate mergers last year."
The largest corporate merger by value last year was Synopsys, a U.S. semiconductor software corporation, and Ansys, a physics simulation company (50 trillion won). Mars, a large U.S. confectionery company, and Kellanova, a snack brand manufacturer (4.99 trillion won), followed. Even if the merger is between overseas corporations, it is subject to review by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) if it is likely to affect the domestic market. Among mergers between domestic corporations, HD Hyundai Construction Equipment and HD Hyundai Infracore (4.4 trillion won) was the largest by value.
A key feature of last year's corporate mergers was active investment related to artificial intelligence (AI). Samsung Electronics and Rainbow Robotics, and LG Electronics and Bear Robotics were representative cases. To advance physical AI, in which AI judges and moves on its own, domestic corporations strengthened their robotics businesses. In the K-culture market, mergers between corporations also stood out in entertainment (HYBE and Korea Yakult) and beauty (L'Oréal and Gowoonsesang Cosmetics).
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) noted it will "revamp related systems so we can effectively respond to new types of corporate mergers that are gradually increasing, centering on new industries."