이 기사는 2020년 03월 05일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

South Korea’s KB Securities is distinguishing itself in the corporate advisory services market, following an organizational change at the beginning of the year.

KB Securities, one of the largest brokerage firms in the country, completed an organizational restructuring earlier this year to strengthen its advisory business, sources familiar with the matter said on February 28. The firm has added a new division under its advisory department, which previously consisted of two divisions, each in charge of acquisition financing services and M&A advisory services.

The move is to augment the firm’s deal-making capacity. The newly created team, along with the existing M&A advisory division, will be responsible for advising on M&A deals, targeting both corporations and PE firms. It will also provide acquisition financing services for mid-sized PE firms.

KB Securities, together with JP Morgan, is currently advising its holding company, KB Financial Group, which is in a race to buy Prudential Life Insurance potentially worth more than two trillion won – a great opportunity to build experience and learn skills that would help the firm when handling other large deals in the future. It also has recently been mandated by Keistone Partners for a potential sale of Golfzon County’s Anseong Q course.

KB Securities – the combined entity created after a merger between KB Investment & Securities and Hyundai Securities in 2017 – has spent the past few years focusing on implementing a post-merger integration, which in turn limited its ability to focus on strengthening its advisory services. This also resulted in an outflow of talent.

However, since 2018, the firm has accelerated efforts to boost its advisory business, recruiting talent from global investment banks and other M&A veterans. Its efforts were paid off: The firm advised on more than ten deals including cross-border M&A transactions over the last two years. With an organizational change implemented this year, the firm is expected to focus on maintaining the momentum it has built so far.

KB Securities is also expanding its presence in its acquisition financing services business. The firm, together with two other brokerage houses, led the financing to back Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Funds (MAIF)’s acquisition of Daesung Industrial Gases, which completed in February.

KB Securities, together with three other brokerage firms, also provided the financing for Macquarie Korea Opportunities Investment (Macquarie PE)’s purchase of a minority stake in LG CNS, following arranging Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR)’s recapitalization of Korea Copper foil & Fccl Technologies late last year.

(By reporter Kim Hye-ran)