Mirae Asset chair to donate subsidiary shares to charity

Mirae Asset Group founder and Chairman Park Hyeon-joo will donate a 25% stake in Mirae Asset Consulting Co., the firm at the top of the financial services group's ownership structure, to an in-house charity, but the contribution will unlikely affect its governance structure.

Park signed an agreement with Mirae Asset Hope Foundation on Dec. 26 to donate about half of his stake in the commercial property management arm, Mirae Asset said on Tuesday.

Industry watchers estimate the stake to be donated at more than 300 billion won ($230 million).

Park controls Mirae Asset Group, spanning asset management and brokerage, life insurance to auto financing entities, through Mirae Asset Consulting.

It is almost unprecedented for a group founder in the country to donate shares of a core unit to a charitable foundation.

However, the donation will unlikely change the group's governance structure. Park and his family members hold a combined 91.86% stake in the consulting firm.

Mirae Asset Consulting is the second-largest shareholder of Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. with a 34.30% stake after Park’s 60.19% shareholding.

Park said he hoped the donated stocks would be used to contribute to the development of science and technology and to foster young talent in South Korea.

Additionally, he is considering donating part of his shares in other units – Mirae Asset Management and Mirae Asset Capital – to the charity within the group.

Such a move is in line with his pledge to leave the management of the group's subsidiaries to professional managers, while his children will participate on the boards of its units as major shareholders.

Park will carry out the donation of shares in Mirae Asset Consulting after the relevant laws are relaxed.

Under current laws, charitable foundations are prohibited from exercising voting rights in their affiliates if the parent group is barred from increasing shares in subsidiaries beyond certain levels through cross-ownership.

Write to Man-Su Choe at bebop@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.