This article was posted on Aug. 8, 2025, at 4:19 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site.
As concerns over duplicate listings have emerged, major securities firms such as Korea Investment & Securities are taking a cautious approach to the initial public offering (IPO) market. In contrast, smaller firms are ramping up their organizations, aiming to fill the void left by the larger firms.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 8th, Eugene Securities established a new IPO division within its corporate finance (CM) headquarters on the 4th. Notably, just as many key personnel were recruited from Mirae Asset Securities when the securities firm was launched, this time, all core staff were recruited from Korea Investment & Securities. Director General Park Seong-bong, who has handled IPO operations for over 15 years at Korea Investment & Securities, along with five other employees who were working in related fields, moved to Eugene Securities. As a result, Eugene Securities has established a four-department IB organization, including the coverage departments CM1 and CM2, and the investment finance department, along with the new IPO department.
Industry insiders noted that the timing of Eugene Securities' recruitment of talent from Korea Investment & Securities was well-timed. Until the end of last year, the personnel of the IB1 department at Korea Investment & Securities had nearly reached 60, but it was reduced to about 40 at the beginning of this year. As there were some disputes during the department transition process, there is movement of employees leaving the company.
Korea Investment & Securities has had poor IPO results this year. In the first half of this year (January to June), Korea Investment & Securities managed only six companies in the KOSDAQ market (excluding SPACs and REITs), with a total managed amount of 176.6 billion won, ranking 7th overall. This was due to missing out on major players like LG CNS and Seoul Guarantee Insurance, as well as not being included in the main managing consortiums for companies like d'Alba Global. This is a stark contrast to last year when Korea Investment & Securities ranked first with 16 IPOs.
There have been cases where companies managed by Korea Investment & Securities have transferred to other securities firms. A&I recently selected Shinhan Investment & Securities as its new IPO manager. Large securities firms tend to concentrate on fees from large IPOs, so A&I likely made this decision to find a firm that could carefully handle its listing process.
Small to mid-sized securities firms, which had previously not distinguished themselves in IPOs, are actively recruiting talent from larger firms to grow their organizations. MERITZ Securities' newly founded MERITZ No. 1 SPAC submitted a preliminary examination request for a KOSDAQ listing to the Korea Exchange at the end of last month. This is the first IPO case where MERITZ Securities is acting as the lead manager.
MERITZ Securities, which established its corporate finance department at the beginning of this year and first entered traditional IB work, appointed former NH Investment & Securities President Jung Young-chae as a senior advisor and Eung Kyung-soo from Samsung and KB Securities as the ECM department head. MERITZ Securities plans to increase its workforce and set up a computerized system for its IPO operations by September.
Eugene Securities is also strengthening its IPO organization. In May, it added a third team to the existing two teams within its IPO organization. The newly established team will be led by Director Kyung-ho Noh, who came from NH Investment & Securities' ECM3 department. Earlier in April, it promoted Yong-hun Yoo, who transferred from Samsung Securities, to the head of the corporate finance department.
An industry official said, "With policies for protecting minority shareholders introduced by the new government, such as restrictions on duplicate listings, it has become challenging for large corporations to pursue large IPOs, and those that successfully listed often did not perform as well as expected. Meanwhile, mid-sized firms are aggressively securing IPO talent while the established large firms rework their IB organizations to seize the opportunity."
A representative from Korea Investment & Securities stated, "We are leading the revenue from IPO deals that require expertise this year, and we are strengthening our proactive sales strategy that not only supports listings but also the overall financing of corporations."