Korea Investment & Securities
Korea Investment & Securities is a worthy winner of this award. The Seoul-based financial institution’s investment banking team had a good year, defined by a strong and steady flow punctuated by big-ticket deals.
Under the watch of chief executive Jung Il-moon, the investment house completed 11 equity capital markets deals worth a total of $1.25 billion in the first 10 months of 2020, according to data from Dealogic. Its nearest rivals, Goldman Sachs and UBS, completed just four ECM deals in that period.
It also had a strong year in DCM, completing 60 deals worth $2.63 billion in total. It was a slow start to the year for initial public offerings, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, but when the market began to heat up in summer, Korea Investment & Securities was ready.
The firm helped Kakao Games raise $323.5 million from its IPO in August, and in September it was one of three lead managers on the $820 million IPO of Big Hit Entertainment, the talent group behind K-pop sensations such as boy band BTS.