이 기사는 2021년 05월 13일 07:41 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Mirae Asset Capital is mulling over an initial public offering (IPO) in the longer term to secure money to support its subsidiaries.

Mirae Asset Financial Group is reviewing the possibility of listing Mirae Asset Capital, the de-facto holding company of the group, industry sources said on Tuesday.

“It will stick to its plan not to convert Mirae Asset Capital into a holding company,” said an industry source familiar with the matter “It has decided to list its credit finance firm in the longer term.”

Mirae Asset Financial Group founder Park Hyeon-joo is the largest shareholder of Mirae Asset Capital with a 34.32% stake, with Mirae Asset Global Investments holding 29.53%, Mirae Asset Consulting 9.98% and Mirae Asset Fund Service 9.49%.

The financial group has made various attempts to avoid the shift to a holding company system. Mirae Asset Capital will face stricter regulations if it is converted into a holding company.

A company whose shares of its subsidiaries are worth more than 50% of its total assets in terms of the book value, it will be forcibly converted into a holding company. To avoid this, Mirae Asset Financial Group has focused on growing its credit finance firm’s business.

Mirae Asset Capital has put efforts into new technology finance, installment finance, leasing, and general loan businesses. It has recently partnered with Naver Financial to provide loans to sellers at Smartstore, an online shopping mall operated by Naver.

On the back of such efforts, Mirae Asset Capital’s stake in affiliates has decreased to 25% of its total assets as of the end of 2020.

The regulatory burden under the Credit Specialized Financial Business Act remains. Credit finance firms are not allowed to have a leverage ratio (total assets/total equity) of higher than 10 times, which should be lowered to eight times or lower by 2025.

Credit finance firms’ double leverage ratio, calculated as investment in subsidiaries to total equity, should not be higher than 150%.

Mirae Asset Capital’s double leverage ratio stood at 205.3% at the end of 2015 and was lowered to 142.8% at the end of 2020.

Market insiders said Mirae Asset Capital’s IPO doesn’t seem to be attractive, but the firm reportedly reviews the plan to secure money for new businesses and enhance stability of fundraising.

“We could consider an option to go public when the company grows, but there is no concrete plan as of now,” said an official at Mirae Asset Capital. (Reporting by Jang-jun Lee)