Daol Investment seeks to sell Thai subsidiary, eyes $75 mn in proceeds

South Korea’s Daol Investment & Securities Co. plans to sell a controlling stake in its Thai subsidiary, Daol Thailand PCL, as part of its efforts to raise funds in preparation for a possible liquidity crunch.

Daol Investment, which together with its affiliate Daol Asset Management Co. owns a combined 69.9% stake in Daol Thailand, is seeking to sell the stake to a Korean financial company.

Daol, which is contacting domestic financial holding companies and securities firms, hopes to receive up to 100 billion won ($75 million) from the stake sale, industry officials said.

Daol Thailand is the only local financial corporation established and run by a Korean investment company.

PREEMPTIVELY SECURE LIQUIDITY

"Currently, we have no liquidity problems, but the market situation is not so bullish over the long term. So, we decided to sell the stake to preemptively secure more liquidity,” said a Daol Investment official.

Daol entered the Thai market in 2008 by acquiring FAR EAST, a local securities company. It later turned it into a holding company to control local financial affiliates.

With 150 billion won in assets, Daol Thailand posted 8.5 billion won in net profit on a consolidated basis last year.

Thailand is the second largest economy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region after Indonesia. The size of its stock market is one-third that of Korea in terms of market capitalization and more than twice that of Vietnam.

Earlier this year, Daol Financial Group changes its name from KTB Financial Group. Its brokerage affiliate’s name was also changed to Daol Investment & Securities from KTB Investment & Securities Co.

Write to Chae-Yeon Kim at Why29@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.