Woori Bank will invest more than 3 trillion won over the next five years in "productive corporations succession" to support the sustainable growth of small and midsize corporations.
Jeong Jin-wan, Woori Bank president, on the 1st held a press briefing on "productive corporations succession" at Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, and said, "Corporations succession is an economic task directly tied to maintaining employment for staff, preserving technological prowess, and stabilizing supply chains within industries," adding, "Over the next five years, we plan to operate more than 3 trillion won as the supply scale of dedicated financing for corporations succession, including acquisition finance, succession-fund loans, and financing linked to guarantees and consulting."
Jeong said, "If the succession issues of small corporations are not activated in various ways, it is a structure in which large corporations will be harmed as well," adding, "We will set the funds for (productive corporations succession financial support) at more than 3 trillion won, and if it goes well, we should also create a fund like foreign firms."
The "productive corporations succession" proposed by Woori Bank does not mean a simple transfer of management rights but a "one-stop support measure" prepared from the perspective of ▲ securing employment stability for staff ▲ strengthening supply chain stability within industries ▲ preserving the technological prowess of small corporations. Woori Bank plans to strengthen an integrated support system that covers succession structures tailored to each corporation's situation, funding plans, and even post-succession management stabilization strategies.
In Feb., Woori Bank, the first in the banking sector, established the "Corporations Succession Support Center," a dedicated organization for corporations succession composed of accounting, tax, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) experts. In Apr., it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Technology Credit Guarantee Fund /Kibo Technology Fund, making a special contribution of 1.3 billion won and agreeing to supply guarantees worth 43.8 billion won. It also signed MOUs with KIM&CHANG and Samil Accounting Corporation to build an integrated support system covering the entire scope of finance, law, and tax.
Woori Bank plans to promote productive corporations succession in a direction that prevents closures or downsizing of corporations. Woori Finance Management Research Institute said that if the succession of a total of 500 corporations is achieved over the next five years, economic effects such as about 200 billion won in added value and maintaining employment for more than 10,000 people could occur. It also estimated 10.7 trillion won in sales preservation effects and 469.9 billion won in production inducement effects.
Yun Seong-hu, Director General of Woori Bank's Corporations Succession Support Center, said, "By providing integrated solutions from the preparation stage of succession to execution and post-succession management stabilization, we will back small and midsize corporations so they can grow into hundred-year corporations."