Chairman Park Hyun-joo of Mirae Asset Group.

Chairman Park Hyeon-joo of Mirae Asset Management will take charge of the merger of Daewoo Securities and Mirae Asset Securities, especially when it comes to such key areas as personnel, organization and management principles, he said in a recent interview.

 The two securities firms will be a key affiliate of Mirae Asset Group, and will be so important that they will determine the future of the group, he said during the interview, adding that he will take charge of the merged securities firm until it is on the right track. Mirae Asset Group took over Daewoo Securities in an open bidding at the end of last year. Its winning bid amounted to 2.45 trillion won for a 43 percent stake in the securities firm.

Park pledged that he will make the new securities firm born from the merger the premier securities and investment firm in Asia, and it will catch up with the likes of Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. He also pledged that he will promote 10 female officers to director-level officials within a year.

Mirae Asset Financial Group should bring the organization, management and process to a global standard, the group Chairman Park Hyeon-joo said in his New Year’s address on Monday. “We plan to set up a global investment bank center to significantly expand investments in venture capital as well as in private equity funds, real estate and social overhead capital (SOC) to become a market leader.”

Chairman Park also unveiled a plan to open a global trading room inside the financial group’s building so that young and talented individuals can build their own financial experiences and grow as a global player. The trading room will open on a 1,000-pyong (3,300-square meter) site on the 35th floor of Mirae Asset’s Center One 1 building in central Seoul.

“Our core competence lies in allocating global assets through funds,” Park added, vowing to support its branches with strong global research that will allow more efficient and active trading with global markets in Japan, the United States and China.

Mirae Asset did not specify when Park will take office as chairman of Daewoo Securities, but insiders speculate the inauguration may take place as early as this week just after completing the payment of M&A costs.

Initially, local media outlets reported Choi Hyun-man, senior vice chairman and CEO of Mirae Asset Life Insurance, was discussed internally to become Daewoo’s head. But Mirae Asset confirmed that Choi will remain to head the group’s insurance unit. Hong Sung-guk, incumbent CEO of Daewoo Securities, will remain until the launch of the integrated Mirae Asset Daewoo.

The leadership may change after the merged firm launches later in the year, with an undecided number of CEOs joining to take charge of divisions, as existing Mirae Asset affiliates do, a Mirae Asset representative said.

The actual acquisition is scheduled to be completed in January, when Mirae Asset finishes paying the remaining M&A price of 2.09 trillion won ($1.82 billion), which is about 90 percent of the acquisition price. Mirae Asset also obtained government approval from the Financial Services Commission to change Daewoo’s largest shareholder on March 30.

The integrated firm will then work on restructuring the brokerage house to gain approval from the FSC by July, followed by stakeholders’ approval at the joint shareholders meeting in September. Mirae Asset Securities says it aims to launch the integrated brokerage giant by the end of the year.

Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities is slated to be launched as the largest brokerage in the industry in Korea, with 7.75 trillion won in equity capital and 4,856 employees, according to Korea Financial Investment Association data. The integrated firm will manage 210 trillion won in investment funds. 

A view of Mirae Asset buildings in Seoul where the group's affiliates have offices. (Photos:Mirae Asset)