Continuous Company Hunting

Park Hyeon-joo, chairman of Mirae Asset Financial Group, becomes also the chairman of Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities.
Park Hyeon-joo, chairman of Mirae Asset Financial Group, becomes also the chairman of Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities.

 

Mirae Asset Group Chairman Park Hyun-joo, who is highly likely to take over KDB Daewoo Securities, is continuously hunting leading global companies.

Previously, Park purchased a unit of Titleist, the number one brand in golf balls and equipment in the world, and Four Seasons and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, the world's leading luxury hospitality brands. He is also planning to purchase a full stake in World Kitchen LLC, a U.S.-based kitchenware company that has several brands under its wing including Corelle, through Mirae Asset Global Investments Co.’s private equity funds (PEF).

According to financial investment industry sources on Jan. 10, Park will visit Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States and Australia for two months from this week to directly seek to invest overseas. During the period, particularly, he will talk with Oaktree Capital Partners, a U.S.-based PEF which is the largest shareholder of World Kitchen, for the detailed provisions for the takeover. World Kitchen is an American kitchenware products maker and distributor which runs Corelle, known for making unbreakable dishes, and Pyrex, known as a brand of cookingware resistant to heat, with a 100 year history. With brand awareness as the number one kitchenware brand in the U.S., Mirae Asset believes that it will make huge sales and profits in the Chinese market in the future and jump to be the number one brand in the global market. Accordingly, the group is giving positive consideration to investment in World Kitchen.

Regarding the takeover of Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, Park said at the press conference for the takeover of KDB Daewoo Securities in December last year, “The group bought the works of Picasso in the hotel industry. We will have sustained focus on M&As with global leading companies and are preparing the capital for this.”

Mirae Asset acquired the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney in 2013 and joined hands with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to open Four Seasons Hotel Seoul in downtown Seoul last year.

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