이 기사는 2022년 01월 17일 07:41 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

KB Securities’ chief executive officer Kim Seong-hyun is stepping up efforts to push for the New Southern Policy, with the Korean brokerage firm set to acquire a mid-sized Indonesian securities company.

KB Securities said on Thursday that it will buy a 65% stake in Indonesia's Valbury Securities for 55 billion won ($46 million) and launch its Indonesian subsidiary in the first quarter of this year.

Founded in 2000, Valbury Securities is a mid-sized securities firm with 18 branches nationwide in Indonesia. It recorded a return on equity (ROE) of 12.1% in the third quarter of 2021.

Valbury Securities will be KB Securities’ new subsidiary in Southeast Asia in five years after it launched its Vietnamese subsidiary, KB Securities Vietnam, in 2017.

Kim has ramped up his push to expand its footprint in the Southeast Asian market. An opening ceremony for KB Securities Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh was Kim’s first official move since taking office in January 2019.

“We aim to utilize our experience of growing KB Securities Vietnam, which we acquired at the end of 2017,” said an official at KB Securities. “We aim to develop Valbury Securities to become top five securities firms in Indonesia through strong IT services and capital power.”

KB Securities Vietnam has shown a rapid growth. It recorded a net income of 8.4 billion won from January to September in 2021, which was on par with 2020’s net income of 8.5 billion won. KB Securities injected tens of billions of won into its Vietnamese subsidiary through two rounds of capital increase in December 2018 and February 2019.

The acquisition of Valbury Securities will be led by the global business and strategy division which reports directly to Kim.

KB Securities is expected to seek synergy between Valbury Securities and KB’s other affiliates that entered the country. According to KB Securities’ report in the third quarter of 2021, four affiliates have subsidiaries in Indonesia - KB Kookmin Bank, KB Insurance, KB Capital, and KB Data Systems. Collaboration with KB Kookmin Bank, which made inroads in Indonesia in 2018, is expected to be the key to the strategy.

KB Kookmin Bank entered the country four years ago by acquiring a stake in Bank Bukopin and secured management rights in the Indonesian bank in 2020. Bank KB Bukopin raised hundreds of billions of won through capital increase, with an aim to turn profitable within two to three years.

KB Securities also plans put Valbury Asset Management, a subsidiary of Valbury Securities, under its new Indonesian entity, although it may hand over Valbury Asset Management to its affiliate KB Asset Management later. (Reporting by Ji-hye Lee)