Master Entrepreneur Award

Mirae Asset Chmn. Park H.J. honored by Ernst & Young for the growth of his asset management firm

Chairman Park Hyeon-joo of Mirae Asset Financial Group won the Master Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the area of asset management for 2009 presented by Ernst and Young Inc., a world-renown multinational accounting firm, in a ceremony held at the Dynasty Room of Hotel Shilla on Dec. 10.
Chairman Park met with reporters with his wife at his side on the happy occasion. When asked to comment on the current state of business, he said 2009 was a very tough year for business, a crisis that would hardly visit once in a decade, if at all, and the market always gets shaken up. But the thing that won’t change, he said, is his confidence in the financial market and his company’s ability to stay out of trouble or outride it.
Park was full of smiles, as the Kospi Index is sure to hit the 2,000 sometime in the first half of this year if the rate of its current ascent keeps up. He said he had to cope with many customer complaints when the stock market was down and felt very uncomfortable then, but not now.
Park looked like he lost some weight, giving an impression he had too much to cope with when the company’s profits were halved. An executive of Mirae Asset said the chairman had to contend with many problems a year ago, but not now. He said the chairman lost weight due to a tough physical exercise regimen at the gym.
Park said he avoided the media when times were rough due to the subprime crisis. He didn’t want to hold a special news conference with the media as they first requested when the market was going through a tough time. He usually made an excuse not to meet with media during the market’s difficult times because what he wanted to say was that the market’s moves were irrational and he, therefore, could not give a good answer.
Mirae Asset has been mired in a tough situation due to a drop in its profits, a rush to sell shares of fund management companies, which put the company on the list of dangerous companies, coupled with the concern over having one man at the top making all kinds of key decisions at Mirae Asset Financial Group.
But now the situation has changed for the better, it seems, with Mirae Asset rumored to be making moves to take over Prudential Investment and Securities on the instruction of none other than Chairman Park himself. Additionally, Harvard Business School, one of the finest business schools in the world, has decided to make the success story of the Mirae Asset chairman a case study.
Company officials said it is the first time that an individual businessman has become a subject of study at the business school, although a number of well-known corporations had been on the list of case studies at the school including P&G, Apple and GE in the U.S., and in Korea, the management strategies of Samsung Electronics and the merger strategies of Shinhan Bank.
Park now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s top business executives by winning the coveted Master Entrepreneur of the Year title from Ernst and Young.
It is also true that Mirae Asset received credit for having been a pioneer in fund management, paving the way for domestic asset management companies in Korea to follow, but at the same time, it got its share of criticism along the way.
Park said he is deeply honored to win the master award, which recognizes his achievements as a fund manager, not forgetting to thank his supporters and mostly to his customers for their unwavering trust in his asset management ability.
At the same time, he expressed worries about the structure of assets in Korea. He said if Korean assets total from 5,000 trillion won to 6,000 trillion won, about 75 percent of which is in real estate, which is very high, compared to average asset formations around the world. It has to be more rational, he said.
He also said the nation’s 15,000 retirees who depend on retirement funds for their later years should have happy and comfortable lives.
Park pointed out that over the next 10 years he will think about what is the best option for the company with society getting older and being divided into extremes amid the effects of globalization.
He said many people asked him how they can succeed in business like he has and he has told them to set up their businesses with the confidence that they can succeed in the global market.
Park said chances for success now lie in the emerging market countries and Mirae Asset will show the world that it can succeed in those markets, although many say it is nearly impossible for a financial firm to do well in those markets.
Park implied that Mirae Asset is the Samsung Electronics of the financial arena and, therefore, would have very good chances to do well in those markets.
He said Mirae Asset did not get world recognition for its success because it grew fast and made a lot of profits, but that it is a commentary on its value and responsible social activities. He said when he sees the chance to make profits, he thinks first whether it is socially justifiable. He would like Mirae Asset to advance into the world market as a strong company, not necessarily a big one.
Sources close to the Mirae Asset chairman said he is considering the company’s next moves to be in Brazil, and he is likely to put down a large chunk of his assets in the Latin American country, perhaps much more than what he did in China. nw

Chairman Park Hyeon-joo of Mirae Asset Financial Group.