Shinhan Investment Securities said on the 13th that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Bridgecode to strengthen advisory services for succession-type mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of small and mid-sized companies.
Through this agreement, focusing on Shinhan Investment Securities and Shinhan Bank, the company plans to systematically provide not only all related tasks that arise in the process of business succession for owner customers of corporations in transaction, but also third-party, succession-type M&A advisory services for corporations where familial succession is difficult. The policy is to provide tailored solutions that link finance, tax, governance, and M&A execution, taking into account the life cycle of corporations and the needs of the owner.
The company emphasized that it aims to establish a new recovery-and-reinvestment pathway through small and mid-sized M&A for sustainable, productive finance, rather than focusing only on expanding investment.
Bridgecode has previously been active as an alumnus company of Shinhan Futures Lab, the accelerator of Shinhan Financial Group. It is a company with strengths in IT-based M&A advisory and solutions centered on small and venture corporations. It received the highest grade in the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' evaluation of M&A advisory institutions and, as a partner of the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC), conducts thousands of M&A consultations annually and holds cumulative advisory track records totaling several trillion won.
Starting with this MOU, Shinhan Investment Securities also plans to actively respond at the group level to the policy direction of "activation of corporation succession-type M&A" that the Ministry of SMEs and Startups released in Dec. last year. To that end, it will operate phase one of the "corporation succession matrix," which consolidates functions across the group such as banking and securities (Shinhan Premier, CIB), centered on agile organizations in the bank and securities.
Depending on the future institutional environment and market conditions, it also plans to serve as a private "corporation succession support center" that contributes to building a support ecosystem for corporation succession by combining expertise from the policy, financial, and private institutional sectors.
A Shinhan Investment Securities official said, "Corporation succession is not a simple transfer of ownership, but an issue directly linked to the continuity of corporations, industrial competitiveness, and the health of the capital market," adding, "Through collaboration with Bridgecode, we will present practical solutions so that small and mid-sized corporations can transition naturally to the next generation."