Mirae Asset Group Chairman and Global Strategist (GSO) Park Hyun-joo announced that the M&A with a Japanese securities company will be announced on the 29th.
In addition, he said that there was a "possibility of wrong" regarding the semiconductor peak theory, which some people are concerned about, and that he was "a negative person" regarding leveraged exchange traded funds (ETFs).
Chairman Park said this in a special lecture titled ‘Global Capital Market, Leap of the Next Generation, and a New Path for the Korean Economy’ held at Kyung Hee University’s Seoul campus on the 27th. This event was held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Kyung Hee University Graduate School of Business.
He said, “The M&A of Mirae Asset will be announced around the afternoon of tomorrow (28th),” and “the M&A (in progress) in mainland China will probably be completed within this year.”
However, in a meeting with reporters after the lecture, Chairman Park corrected himself by saying, “The soon-to-be-announced M&A target is an Asian securities company,” and “The board of directors meeting will be held on the 29th, not the 28th.” It is reported that the securities company targeted for M&A is a Japanese company.
It is known that the Chinese company, whose M&A is likely to be completed within the year, is also a financial company.
In his lecture, Chairman Park said that he would continue to conduct M&As targeting companies in countries with larger economies than Korea, and that "the places I want to do it the most are the United States and China."
Meanwhile, regarding the semiconductor peak theory, he said, “The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution has reached 10 to 20% of the time now,” and added, “(The peak theory) is likely to be wrong.”
He pointed out, “There are only four companies, including Changshin Memory, that can make memory and high-bandwidth memory (HBM). If the price goes up due to supply shortage, you can buy it, but it is difficult to expand.”
While expectations for semiconductor companies' shareholder return measures are growing, they expressed a somewhat negative stance on this.
Chairman Park said, “Korea is a country led by the manufacturing industry. The manufacturing industry is characterized by a cyclical business cycle, which can be good, but then problems can suddenly arise in competition.” This can be interpreted as the position that more emphasis should be placed on investment rather than dividends.
In addition, he emphasized that “he was a negative person” about leveraged ETFs.
He explained, “We do not create products for the company’s profit,” and “If I had liked (leveraged ETF), I could have done it in Hong Kong, but I didn’t. I was afraid that Koreans would lose out.”
He went on to say, “Double, triple, and ten times the US coin leverage is something you shouldn’t do,” and added, “I got the feeling that I definitely shouldn’t do it.”
Regarding the exchange rate, he said, "I think we need to change the idea that the won must be strong," and pointed out, "Manufacturing accounts for 60-70% of the Korean economy. If we want to make the manufacturing industry strong, would it be okay to have a strong won?"
Meanwhile, he cited real estate as the biggest problem for the Korean economy and said, “There is a high possibility that apartments will fall.”
He then suggested deregulation as a solution to increase supply and said, “We just need to build offices up to the 20th floor and apartments above that.” He also mentioned a plan to convert a golf course near Seoul into a rental housing site.
In addition, regarding China's technological rise, he said, "(If I were Chinese), I would sell my house and buy Changshin Memory," and added, "The fact that Changshin Memory surpassed Moutai's market capitalization is the starting point that the Chinese market has begun to reflect the technological boom."
