Feb 27, 2023

Posted : 2023-02-27 16:38 By Yi Whan-woo Woori Financial Group announced on Monday that it acquired a majority stake in Daol Investment, a venture capital company it has sought to take over on its path to diversifying its non-banking business portfolio. The banking group said it signed a deal with Daol Financial Group to purchase a 52 percent stake in Daol Investment, which is owned by brokerage house Daol Investment & Securities. The stake will be purchased for 212.5 billion won ($160 million). Payment will be completed no later than a regular shareholders' meeting of Daol Investment & Securities on March 23. Woori Financial Group headquarters in central Seoul / Korea Time file The takeover of Daol Investment will increase Woori Financial Group's number of subsidiaries to 15. Daol Investment will also mark the banking group's first successful acquisition since December 2021 when the group was fully privatized after 23 years of government-led ownership. Woori Financial Group said it finds "efficient management of human resources" crucial for a venture capital firm and that it will keep such value in mind in its integration of Daol Investment. "We will try to maintain executives, governance structure, decision-making processes, performance-based rewards and other current management systems of Daol Investment as much as possible to ensure the venture capital firm's management in an autonomous manner," Woori Financial Group said in a press release. "We'll make full-fledged support for the venture capital firm to create synergy with Woori Bank, Woori Private Equity Asset Management and other venture capital-related business units, with the goal of becoming the No. 1 player in the industry in five years." In a separate announcement, Daol Financial Group said the acquisition deal was made possible "as the involved parties negotiated in a cooperative manner." It said the money it will acquire through selling the major stake in Daol Investment will be used to stabilize its business and nurture new growth engines. Monday's agreement comes after Daol Investment was put up for sale in December 2022, due to Daol Investment & Securities' struggle with a liquidity crunch in the debt market earlier that same year. Daol Investment & Securities accepted voluntary retirements from its employees in November 2022 while not extending contacts with some workers in the bond department. A Kosdaq-listed company, Daol Investment specializes in tech-related investments. As of 2022, Daol Investment manages 1.4 trillion won. Formerly called KTB Network, a first-generation venture capital firm, it was renamed to Daol Investment in March 2022.