KDB Daewoo Securities Co. has long been known for its investment banking operations and therefore has solidified its reputation as a traditional IB firm in Korea.

The company, born out of the merger between Sambo Securities and Dongyang Securities in 1983, both ranked numbers one and two in the industry. The newly-born securities firm branched into the IB area and by the end of the 1990s it took from 20 to 30 percent of the IB market in Korea.

The securities firm handled such IB cases as advisor to the Korea Fund, set up in 1984 in the United States; the overseas issue of bonds by SK Innovation in 1991, now worth $75 million; and POSCO's listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1994; which were some of the big IB cases that the company got involved with.

The company's operations did not remain that smooth, as the Daewoo Group was put under court management in 1999, but the company recovered its normal operations from the middle of the 2000s and became strong again in IB activities.

The securities firm got top ranking in handling ELS for five years in a row, and third place in managing ELB, and in initial public offerings it has always ranked third place and above in every major category of the securities business.

The company made its name by taking care of such large IPOs as Sky Life, Hi-Mart, and YG Entertainment, among others last year, helping those large firms to list their shares on the stock exchange. YG Entertainment attracted some 3.6 trillion won in subscription contract funds, the second largest in the IPO history in Korea, followed by the issuance of new shares for Hanjin Shipping amounting to 300 billion won to increase its capital.

The company also helped the sale of 10-year bonds worth $750 million issued by Korea Investment Corp. by stepping up its marketing activities in the Asia region last year.

Daewoo Securities IB activities have been very strong in both the stock and bond sections backed up by its long experience and capacities.

The company is also known for its outstanding research and corporate businesses, long enjoying top positions in those areas.

The company's outstanding feature in its operations has been its penchant to help its rivals by sharing some of the business with them. The company gave around 40 percent of its IPO businesses to mid to small-sized securities firms, taking only 60 percent for itself, which is far lower than what large securities firms have been taking —  about 70 to 80 percent. Daewoo Securities officials said they have to find the way to ‘live' together with smaller securities firms under its management philosophy to ‘march along together shoulder-to-shoulder' with small firms in the business.

Daewoo Securities plans to upgrade its focus on 20 large corporations' M&As as an advisor under its strategy to strengthen its IB operations this year with the Senior IB Banker Group taking charge of planning and strategy. The company also doubled the number of personnel for the IB section.

The number of personnel for the IB section in the Hong Kong subsidiary will be increased to 10 from seven this year under its plan to steadily increase the company's IB operations in the Asian market.  nw