But Wisa confirms internal review after new team took over
By OH BOON PING AND LYNETTE KHOO 04 September 2009
South Korean brokerage Woori Investment and Securities Asia (Wisa) has quashed talk that it was pulling out of Singapore merely one year after setting up shop here.
But it confirmed that it underwent an internal review of its business following a change of management earlier this year.
Wisa managing director Byungho Park told BT that Woori has ‘no intention to reduce or scale down our operations units in Singapore at the moment’.
With at least 27 staff in its Singapore office, the group may increase headcount as its business in Singapore and the region grow.
Wisa, the securities arm of Woori Finance Group, has focused on sales trading and advisory business in Singapore so far, and plans to reinforce its brokerage activities for Korean debts and equities in the second half of this year, Mr. Park said.
This could be an about-turn as Wisa, which pumped some US$50 million into its Singapore operations, had wanted to pull out after failing to secure much business in its first year, according to sources. Transactions at hedge fund Woori Absolute Partners (WAP) - launched in March 2008 - were also suspended in June.
The newly appointed chief executive and president Sung-ho Hwang had met the Singapore team two months ago and said he wanted a more stringent risk management system, sources told BT earlier.
Pulling out of Singapore was one of the options then, they said.
Some 80 per cent of staff in Singapore could have been sent to its Korea branch and headquarters, with the remaining deployed in Hong Kong. This was also seen to be in line with Wisa’s new focus on China as Mr. Hwang, known as an M&A specialist, was eyeing a slice of the pie.
At the 2009 Woori Korea Conference here yesterday, Mr. Hwang affirmed Wisa’s interest to expand its presence in Singapore, ‘which continues to be a focal point for its global expansion plans’.
Since its inception in Singapore in May 2008, Wisa has seen steady growth in all its business units, Mr. Hwang said. Wisa has issued two new asset-backed securities and in the corporate and real estate finance services segment, gained 10 mandates totalling US$700 million for cross border transactions.
The securities firm said that it has revamped some of its investment processes. Its hedge fund WAP has cut some of its risk exposure and will continue to focus on capital protection and risk management to achieve an annual target return of 10-15 per cent.
Mr. Park told BT that WAP is currently reviewing a potential expansion of its platform including opportunities in the Fund of Funds business and hopes to grow from the current asset size of US$100 million to US$500 million.
The parent firm Woori Finance Holdings is mulling an investment in a Blackstone Group private equity fund, Mr. Hwang confirmed yesterday.
This comment came on the heels of a report by Maeil Business Newspaper a day before, that said Woori Finance’s banking units are looking to invest US$300 million in the Blackstone fund.
‘Woori Financial is in the process of reviewing the opportunity in Blackstone,’ Mr. Hwang said. Given Blackstone’s track record, ‘we are happy to see if we can work together in markets overseas as well as locally’.
Woori Financial, which is 73 per cent owned by the South Korean government, also runs the country’s No 2 lender Woori Bank.
In the first quarter ended June 30, it swung back into the black with 162.3 billion won (S$187.8 million) in net income, after posting a deficit of 664.8 billion won in the previous quarter, as non-interest income turned around, and provisions for doubtful accounts dropped.
It had a 44 per cent slump in net profit to 181.8 billion won for fiscal 2009 ended March 31 as trading fees and gains in securities took a hit while impairment loss on securities and derivative transactions surged.
2 comments:
Korean broker quashes talk of exit from Singapore
But Wisa confirms internal review after new team took over
By OH BOON PING AND LYNETTE KHOO
04 September 2009
South Korean brokerage Woori Investment and Securities Asia (Wisa) has quashed talk that it was pulling out of Singapore merely one year after setting up shop here.
But it confirmed that it underwent an internal review of its business following a change of management earlier this year.
Wisa managing director Byungho Park told BT that Woori has ‘no intention to reduce or scale down our operations units in Singapore at the moment’.
With at least 27 staff in its Singapore office, the group may increase headcount as its business in Singapore and the region grow.
Wisa, the securities arm of Woori Finance Group, has focused on sales trading and advisory business in Singapore so far, and plans to reinforce its brokerage activities for Korean debts and equities in the second half of this year, Mr. Park said.
This could be an about-turn as Wisa, which pumped some US$50 million into its Singapore operations, had wanted to pull out after failing to secure much business in its first year, according to sources. Transactions at hedge fund Woori Absolute Partners (WAP) - launched in March 2008 - were also suspended in June.
The newly appointed chief executive and president Sung-ho Hwang had met the Singapore team two months ago and said he wanted a more stringent risk management system, sources told BT earlier.
Pulling out of Singapore was one of the options then, they said.
Some 80 per cent of staff in Singapore could have been sent to its Korea branch and headquarters, with the remaining deployed in Hong Kong. This was also seen to be in line with Wisa’s new focus on China as Mr. Hwang, known as an M&A specialist, was eyeing a slice of the pie.
At the 2009 Woori Korea Conference here yesterday, Mr. Hwang affirmed Wisa’s interest to expand its presence in Singapore, ‘which continues to be a focal point for its global expansion plans’.
Since its inception in Singapore in May 2008, Wisa has seen steady growth in all its business units, Mr. Hwang said. Wisa has issued two new asset-backed securities and in the corporate and real estate finance services segment, gained 10 mandates totalling US$700 million for cross border transactions.
The securities firm said that it has revamped some of its investment processes. Its hedge fund WAP has cut some of its risk exposure and will continue to focus on capital protection and risk management to achieve an annual target return of 10-15 per cent.
Mr. Park told BT that WAP is currently reviewing a potential expansion of its platform including opportunities in the Fund of Funds business and hopes to grow from the current asset size of US$100 million to US$500 million.
The parent firm Woori Finance Holdings is mulling an investment in a Blackstone Group private equity fund, Mr. Hwang confirmed yesterday.
This comment came on the heels of a report by Maeil Business Newspaper a day before, that said Woori Finance’s banking units are looking to invest US$300 million in the Blackstone fund.
‘Woori Financial is in the process of reviewing the opportunity in Blackstone,’ Mr. Hwang said. Given Blackstone’s track record, ‘we are happy to see if we can work together in markets overseas as well as locally’.
Woori Financial, which is 73 per cent owned by the South Korean government, also runs the country’s No 2 lender Woori Bank.
In the first quarter ended June 30, it swung back into the black with 162.3 billion won (S$187.8 million) in net income, after posting a deficit of 664.8 billion won in the previous quarter, as non-interest income turned around, and provisions for doubtful accounts dropped.
It had a 44 per cent slump in net profit to 181.8 billion won for fiscal 2009 ended March 31 as trading fees and gains in securities took a hit while impairment loss on securities and derivative transactions surged.
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