Securities Firms Buy Back Shares Amid Stock Price Plunge

Mirae Asset Daewoo, Eugene Investment & Securities, and Others Sequentially Buy Shares... Initiate Stock Price Boost to Enhance Shareholder Value

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] As the stock market continues to plunge due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), securities firms are increasingly taking steps to boost their stock prices.

According to the securities industry on the 23rd, Mirae Asset Daewoo will begin repurchasing its own shares starting today. On the 20th, Mirae Asset Daewoo decided to repurchase and cancel treasury shares to enhance shareholder value. The company plans to complete the share repurchase within three months by June 22, with a repurchase scale of approximately 47 billion KRW, or about 13 million common shares. This corresponds to about 2.4% of the outstanding shares.

A representative from Mirae Asset Daewoo explained, "This decision to repurchase and cancel treasury shares was made to enhance shareholder value and protect shareholders by increasing stock value," adding, "Even considering the impact of the COVID-19 situation on the financial market, we judged that the recent stock price movement is in an absolutely undervalued range from a fundamental perspective, including the company's performance."

The company expects a positive impact on supply and demand along with this treasury stock repurchase, as Mirae Asset Capital, the largest shareholder of Mirae Asset Daewoo, announced on the 19th that it would purchase Mirae Asset Daewoo common shares worth around 50 billion KRW in the market.

Eugene Investment & Securities also plans to acquire 3 million treasury shares worth 4.5 billion KRW by June 18. Eugene Investment & Securities announced on the 18th, "We decided to acquire treasury shares to enhance shareholder value through stock price stabilization."

KTB Investment & Securities and Hanwha Investment & Securities executives have also started repurchasing treasury shares. KTB Investment & Securities executives recently purchased 160,000 treasury shares. President Choi Seokjong bought 35,000 shares, increasing his total to 75,000 shares, representing a 0.11% stake. Kim Hyungnam, the full-time audit committee member, purchased 70,000 shares. Hwang Junho, CEO of KTB Financial Group, and Kim Taewoo, CEO of KTB Asset Management, each bought 10,000 shares. Ahn Taewoo, Head of Management Innovation at KTB Investment & Securities (Executive Director), and Kim Jeongsu, Executive Director, also purchased 30,000 and 5,000 shares respectively. As a result, the largest shareholder's stock holding ratio, including Vice Chairman Lee Byungchul, increased from 20.10% last year to 20.31%.

Hanwha Investment & Securities executives purchased 212,773 treasury shares between the 11th and 18th. Among them, CEO Kwon Heebaek bought 43,700 shares. A Hanwha Investment & Securities official stated, "The background for the executives' treasury share purchases is that despite continuous growth with three consecutive years of profitability, the stock price remained at a low level."

The reason securities firms are increasingly engaging in treasury share repurchases to boost stock prices is that their stock prices have also fallen sharply as the global stock markets have plunged recently. As of 9:40 a.m. on the 23rd, the KOSPI securities industry index recorded 953.89, down 8.79% (91.94 points) from the previous day. The KOSPI securities industry index has fallen 28.75% since the beginning of this month until the day before. New 52-week lows are also appearing one after another. On this day, Korea Financial Group, NH Investment & Securities, Samsung Securities, Daishin Securities, KTB Investment & Securities, SK Securities, and Shinyoung Securities recorded intraday 52-week lows.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.