Samsung Securities Eyes China's IPO, M&A Markets

Shanghai to be base for expanding IB operations

Samsung Securities Co. has built up its overseas operations to a lucrative level with its presence in diverse strategic locations. Its earnings from these offices topped $60 million last year and the company expects more this year as it has expanded the brokerage operation linking foreign institutional investors with the Korean stock market.
Currently, the Samsung affiliate has been focusing on its stock brokerage operation, but will later look into finding new business areas and expanding its operations abroad in emerging markets including India, Vietnam and China. The company expects to dispatch three to five personnel to scout the markets in those countries and gain local market exposure.
The company pays a great deal of attention to China, as the country will play a key role in its strategy to develop its investment banking sector. The company will take advantage of cooperative ties it formed with Choongshin Securities in the areas of personnel exchange and stock market operations to search for business opportunities for the company.
The company's four-year-old Shanghai office will be the base of its China business, as it will handle IPOs for Chinese firms in the Korean stock market and M&As between Korea and China.
The company plans to secure QFII (Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor) certification and create funds for direct investment on China's stock exchanges.
Samsung Securities staged the Korea-Indonesia Energy Forum in Seoul in July with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in attendance with the support of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. The company aims to play the role of intermediary between Korean companies that want to operate in Indonesia and local firms in such areas as the construction of SOC projects and others to be pursued by Korean and local firms in the Southeast Asian country. The company will handle funding for those projects as part of its investment banking operation.
In order to hire a talented work force, the company has reformed its pay system and organization in order to upgrade them to the level of those in advanced countries.
The company has also been studying ways to expand its scale in order to compete overseas. Company officials said they will go for M&As or strategic tie ups with securities firms at home and abroad if it will help create a synergistic environment for both firms.
The company is in the process of expanding its capital in order to back up its overseas operations and be prepared for any contingency that may require emergency funding or additional capital needed to conclude a big deal.
Samsung Securities is Korea's leading securities firm offering customer-focused, solutions-oriented retail brokerage and wealth management services for individual investors as well as institutional brokerage, investment advisory, investment banking and capital markets services for public and private enterprises. nw

Pres. Bae Ho-won of Samsung Securities Co.