Wednesday, May 1st, 2013
SEOUL, KOREA - Samsung Asset Management, Korea's leading investment management company, has failed to establish a joint venture in China that it had pursued for more than two years.
The company said on April 29 that it would fold the business to create a joint venture in partnership with Xiangcai Securities, a Changsha-based second-tier securities house. In February 2011, Samsung Asset had signed an agreement with Xiangcai to found an asset management company in China with a paid-in capital of 200 million yuan (US$32.4 million).
The main reason behind the letdown was Chinese government's regulation. According to a Samsung Asset official, "We finally made a decision to discontinue the effort because the regulatory authority is delaying the approval while Xiangcai Securities was not eager to pursue the deal.""Instead, we will keep increasing the presence in Greater China Region by strengthening our Hong Kong corporation whose assets under management are in excess of 1 billion dollars," he added.
Originally, Samsung Asset was going to invest 40 percent of the capital while the remaining share will be paid for by Xiangcai. Xiangcai Securities, established in 1993 in Changsha, Hunan Province, is ranked 26th out of 106 Chinese securities houses in terms of transaction amount.
