Mirae Asset Daewoo to boost equity capital: group chief

Park Hyeon-joo, the founder and chairman of Mirae Asset Financial Group, said on Tuesday he is reviewing four or five options to boost equity capital of the group’s subsidiary Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities.

Park, dubbed Korea’s Warren Buffet, made a 2.4 trillion won ($2 billion) bet in acquiring what was then known as KDB Daewoo Securities early last year.

Mirae Asset Daewoo’s equity capital is currently estimated at 6.6 trillion won.

“I’m reviewing four or five options to increase capital,” Park told reporters at a New Year’s meeting with government officials and business leaders in the financial industry in Seoul.

“I will make a decision after seeing that the financial authorities allow investment management accounts (for large-sized securities firms).”

His comments came as the Financial Services Commission recently said it planned to change capital market regulations to allow brokerages with more than 8 trillion won equity capital to launch investment management accounts as a way to facilitate corporate finance. It also aims to allow short-term corporate lending, such as the issuance of commercial papers for investment banks with more than 4 trillion won equity capital.

The regulator plans to apply the new rules in the second half of this year.

Park said Mirae Asset Daewoo, the nation’s top securities firms by size of equity capital, will put “investment” as its top priority this year.

“Now is the time for an investment, both for Mirae Asset Daewoo and for Korean society,” he said.

The 500 billion won new growth energy fund, which was recently launched jointly with Korea Power Corp., will gain more capital, Park said.

The 100 billion won matching fund, jointly launched with Naver, will be expanded to 1 trillion won, he added.

Mirae Asset also plans to clinch a deal within a week to invest about 1 trillion won for resort facilities in Gyeongdo, Yeosu, along the southern coast in South Jeolla Province, Park said.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)