Mirae Asset Securities emerges as top IPO underwriter this year

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By Anna J. Park

Newly listed companies raised record-high amounts of capital this year in their initial public offerings (IPO) on both the benchmark KOSPI and tech-heavy KOSDAQ marketsy, and the country's top five securities firms have been busy participating as underwriters.

Mirae Asset Securities in particular emerged this year as a powerhouse of the IPO underwriting market, defeating traditional IPO powerhouses like NH Investment and Korea Investment.

According to the Korea Exchange (KRX), the top five brokerage firms ― Mirae Asset, NH Investment, Korea Investment, Samsung Securities and KB Securities ― managed 24.7 trillion won ($20.7 billion) worth of stock public offerings this year, which is some 70 percent of the entire 37.3 trillion won ($31.2 billion) raised by 115 companies' IPO procedures this year.

The five securities firms served as underwriters for 73 newly listed companies going public this year, an increase of more than 73 percent from 42 last year. The total amount of capital raised through the IPOs ― 24.7 trillion won ― has increased nearly five times from last year's 5.2 trillion won.

This was due to the top-tier securities firms underwriting for large-sized market cap companies such as Krafton and KakaoBank that raised a huge amount of capital through their public offerings.

Mirae Asset Securities took the top position among all local securities companies in terms of both the number of IPOs as well as the newly listed companies' aggregate amount of capital raised through the stock offerings. The firm participated in underwriting 21 companies' IPOs so far this year, raising over 8.8 trillion won in the process. Mirae Asset was the lead underwriter for many big-time IPOs of this year, including SK IET and Krafton.

Meanwhile, NH Investment & Securities failed to keep its long-held top spot in the IPO underwriting market. The company was ranked the top firm for consecutive years back in 2019 and 2020, yet it was relegated to the fourth position amid heightened competition.

Korea Investment & Securities participated in 17 IPOs this year, managing the public offering of an aggregated 3.8 trillion won by the companies. Samsung Securities followed the list with 3.3 trillion won. KB Securities showed the highest increase rate in the aggregate amount of capital raised by its IPO clients.

Market insiders say the competition among brokerage houses to attract big-time IPOs is getting fiercer. The domestic IPO market's recent expansion means increased returns from underwriting fees for the securities firms, as the IPO market is changing its landscape swiftly.

Meanwhile, Korean branches of global investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan, also increased their presence in the IPO market this year.

The three global investment banks participated in IPOs of seven local companies this year, such as Kakao Pay, KakaoBank and SK IET, either as part of the underwriting team or as lead underwriter, managing a total of 9.8 trillion won worth of stock public offerings.