Korea’s 3rd Largest IB
Korea Investment Holdings announced on November 28 that its subsidiary Korea Investment & Securities would increase its capital by 1.692 trillion won (US$1.52 billion) on the following day. This means the creation of the third mega investment bank in South Korea with an equity capital of 4.02 trillion won (US$3.6 billion).
The first two are Mirae Asset Daewoo and NH Investment & Securities and they have an equity capital of 6.7 trillion won (US$6.0 billion) and 4.5 trillion won (US$4.0 billion) respectively. Hyundai Securities and KB Investment & Securities are scheduled to be merged with each other in January next year by the name of KB Securities and its equity capital is 3.9883 trillion won (US$3.5 billion) as of now.
Earlier, Korea Investment & Securities decided on a cash dividend payment of 962 billion won (US$865 million) to facilitate Korea Investment Holdings’ investment. In addition, it received 140 billion won (US$126 million) and 50 billion won (US$45 million) in interim dividend from Korea Investment Savings Bank and Korea Investment Partners. It issued commercial papers worth 225 billion won (US$202 million) on November 14 and decided to issue corporate bonds worth 290 billion won (US$261 million) on November 25, too. In short, Korea Investment Holdings procured no less than 1.667 trillion won (US$1.50 billion) in a single month.
Experts are pointing out that Korea Investment Holdings is regaining its confidence by becoming the largest shareholder in Kakao Bank and acquiring 4% of Woori Bank shares after having failed to take over Daewoo Securities last year and Hyundai Securities this year. According to them, Korea Investment Holdings is likely to become aggressive again after Korea Investment & Securities’ recapitalization.