Hanwha Investment & Securities (003530) is entering Japan's capital market by acquiring the brokerage arm of GI Capital Management, a Japanese integrated financial investment firm. The company plans to add Japan to the base it has built in Southeast Asia, widening its Asian financial network.
Hanwha Investment & Securities said on the 12th that it had signed a share purchase agreement to acquire shares in GI Capital Management's securities business. The signing ceremony took place in Tokyo after the board approved the acquisition last month.
The deal gives the firm a local foothold in Japan's capital market, which has been growing on the back of a more active stock market and corporate value-up policies. Hanwha Investment & Securities has already established a Southeast Asian presence through Pinetree Securities in Vietnam and Singapore and through Ciptadana Sekuritas and Ciptadana Asset Management in Indonesia. In Japan, it intends to broaden business opportunities for both companies through cooperation with GI Capital Management and to seek synergies with its existing Asian operations.
"Building on GI Capital Management's professional staff and its network of local institutional investors, we will strengthen the competitiveness of our traditional financial businesses," said Chang Byung-ho, chief executive of Hanwha Investment & Securities. "We will also explore opportunities to expand into new digital businesses and continue to raise Hanwha Investment & Securities' global competitiveness."