South Korea’s Mirae Asset Group bets $100 million on SpaceX

Mirae Asset Securities Co. is poised to invest $100 million in US spacecraft and satellite communication corporation SpaceX. 

The South Korean financial institution announced Thursday it formed The 1st Mirae Asset Global Space Investment Association managed by Mirae Asset Capital. 

Last month, SpaceX reported it attracted $1.68 billion in funding, falling short of its $1.72 billion target. 

SpaceX launched an additional capital increase to make up for the difference, at which time Mirae Asset Securities joined in. 

INDUSTRY POTENTIAL 

US business magnate Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of reducing space travel costs and more.

On June 4, 2010, it became the first private company to successfully complete a maiden test flight of its rocket in space.

SpaceX dominates the commercial projectile market with over 60% market share.

Its corporate value is calculated at around $125 billion. 

SpaceX is also the operator of Starlink, which offers satellite internet access coverage to 34 nations – with the eventual goal of providing global coverage. 

The company started launching Starlink satellites in 2019 and previously announced it would began operations in South Korea by 2023. 

Since then, it has put approximately 2,700 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.

Mirae Asset Financial Group has concluded aggressive investments in overseas markets in the last decade.

It acquired an 85% stake in Toronto-based Horizons ETFs Management Inc. in 2011 and took over New York-based Global X ETFs in 2018. 

On June 15, Mirae Asset Global Investments acquired Sydney-based ETF Securities for 120 billion won ($91 million). 

Total pre-tax net profit for Mirae Asset Securities’ overseas offices exceeded 171 billion won in 2019, becoming the first South Korean securities firm to surpass 100 billion won in profit generated outside the peninsula. 

Mirae Asset Securities is South Korea’s largest investment banking and stock brokerage company by market capitalization. 

The firm merged with Daewoo Securities at the end of December 2016. 

Write to Tae-Hoon Lee at beje@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.