Korean executives come to fore at global investment banks

The logo of Credit Suisse is seen at its headquarters in Zurich in this March 24 file photo. Reuters-Yonhap

By Park Jae-hyuk

Multiple global investment banks have promoted many of their Korean senior executives recently in light of the contribution of lucrative deals on the Korean market to their earnings this year, according to industry officials, Sunday.

The latest example of this was Credit Suisse (CS), which announced Wednesday that it had appointed both Shim Jong-min and Kim Sei-won as new managing directors ― a rank below partners.

Shim, who was born in 1981, became the youngest managing director working at the Seoul offices of global investment banks. After working for Macquarie and Nomura, he joined CS in 2014 and handled the sale of Asiana Airlines last year and the initial public offering (IPO) of KakaoBank this year. He also advised on Korean Air's sales of its in-flight meal and duty-free businesses, Olive Young's pre-IPO, IMM Private Equity's sale of Taihan Cable & Solution and SK E&S' issuance of redeemable convertible preferred shares.

Kim, who worked for UBS and served as the chief financial officer of a local fashion firm, Nanda, advised on SK's investments in Vingroup and Masan Group, as well as on Doosan's sales of its subsidiaries and Carlyle's investment in KB Financial Group. He also participated in Krafton's IPO, allowing his company to make a handsome profit from the deal.

The logo for Goldman Sachs appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in this 2016 file photo. AP-Yonhap

Goldman Sachs promoted Lee Seok-yong and Park Ji-eun to managing directors last month.

Since former Goldman Sachs Korea co-head Choi Dong-suk was appointed a managing director in 2010, this is the first time for Korean executives of the U.S. firm's Seoul office to be promoted to managing directors. Although Goldman Sachs appoints its new managing directors biennially, the position is only allowed to 6 percent of its entire employees worldwide.

Lee, who worked for Boston Consulting Group, is known for his expertise in the tech, media and telecommunication businesses ― he advised on Kakao Pay's IPO, Coupang's listing on the New York Stock Exchange and the sale of Woowa Brothers.

Park, who majored in economics and mathematics at Columbia University and earned a Master's in financial mathematics from New York University, has specialized in derivatives markets.

The logo for Citigroup appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in this 2019 file photo. AP-Yonhap

Citigroup Global Markets Securities promoted Min Jae-yoon to managing director recently.

Min, who was born in 1980 and started his career as a certified public accountant at Samil PwC, participated in multiple large-size deals involving SK Lubricants, W Concept, Plug Power and Logen. He also advised on IPOs for SK biopharmaceuticals and Krafton.

Industry officials expect more global investment banks to promote Korean executives at their Seoul offices, as large-size acquisition deals and IPOs will continue to take place here next year.