Jefferies to open Seoul office in January

Jefferies' U.S. headquarters in New York City / Courtesy of Jefferies

Jefferies, a U.S.-based global investment banking firm, is set to open an office in Seoul in January next year, aiming to focus its business on corporate finance.

According to the industry this week, Jefferies recently appointed Lee Chun-kee, the former Korea head of Credit Suisse, as the new CEO of its Seoul office. Lee had led Credit Suisse's operation in Korea for over two decades until early this year and is scheduled to start his new job early next year.

Besides Lee, other necessary positions at the Seoul office are also being filled, mostly by former investment bank employees, market insiders say.

As Lee has built an extensive career in corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across industries in Korea, Jefferies' Seoul office is expected to center on the corporate finance sector. Market watchers will closely follow what changes Jefferies' entry into the Korean market will bring to the local competitive investment banking landscape.

Founded in 1962, the New York-headquartered investment banking firm has become one of the world's top 10 investment banks in terms of annual earnings. Last year, the the bank was ranked as the world's seventh-best, following Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citi and Barclays in the comprehensive areas of M&As, equity capital market and leveraged finance.

Jefferies operates its Europe and Middle East headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. In the Asia-Pacific region, there are branches in Beijing, Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Altogether, there are more than 1,400 bankers worldwide and about 100 in Asia-Pacific.