이 기사는 2020년 01월 06일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

NH Investment & Securities continued to top equity underwriting league tables in South Korea in 2019, followed by Korea Investment & Securities (KIS).

According to the bell’s equity capital market (ECM) league table, the total value of equity underwriting by bookrunners - excluding block trades - in 2019 stood at around 6.4 trillion won. Despite negative market conditions, NH Investment retained a firm hold on first place, bringing in proceeds of almost 1.6 trillion won.

NH Investment sat in first place in 2018 when NH Investment’s chief executive officer (CEO) Jeong Young-chae took office. With other firms' fortunes fluctuating more, the securities company continued dominating the list for the second straight year.

NH Investment led four of the six largest initial public offering (IPO) deals in 2019 such as Hanwha Systems (402.6 billion won), Japanese game company SNK (169.7 billion won) Zinus (169.2 billion won) and Hyundai Motor Group's IT service unit Hyundai AutoEver (168.5 billion won).

NH Investment also was a bookrunner in the 471.8 billion won rights offer of Doosan Heavy Industries and 107.3 billion won rights offer of Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems.

KIS ranked second with a total of 1.13 trillion won in proceeds in 2019. It led some major IPOs like Lotte REIT (429.9 billion won), Hanwha Systems, and Pum-Tech Korea (97.3 billion won). The brokerage firm jointly led the Doosan Heavy Industries rights issue deal with NH Investment.

KB Securities finished the year as the number three in the domestic ECM, thanks to the listing of ITM Semiconductor (131.3 billion won). Until the end of first half of this year, the brokerage firm had struggled in arranging ECM deals, but as ITM Semiconductor's IPO hit the jackpot, it could jump into the leading group.

Samsung Securities and Shinhan Investment came in fourth and fifth, respectively. Both securities firms showed better performance in rights offer than in IPO deals. Samsung Securities led 236.5 billion-won rights offer of Amorepacific Group, closing in on KB Securities. Shinhan Investment led 11 rights issue deals.

Equity-linked note issue activities were subdued throughout the year, with a total value standing at 217 billion won (eight deals). KIS led two mezzanine issues of Shinsung E&G (30 billion won) and South Korean food manufacturer Pulmuone (70 billion won), while Shinhan Investment acted as the bookrunner for the 40 billion-won mezzanine issue of Neuros.

Meanwhile, private equity exit activities dominated in the block trade market. Major block transactions include One Equity Partners' sale of 6.5 million shares of its stake in Celltrion Healthcare (around 400 billion won) and Affinity Equity Partners' sale of 2.78 million shares in Kakao (around 350 billion won), which were advised by UBS and JP Morgan, respectively.

(By reporter Yang Jung-woo)