Invest KOREA

Doing Business the Authentic Way

INTL Korea meets middle market needs

Two words keep coming up during an interview with Steve Carlson, Chairman of INTL Korea: Matt Yoon.

The name is part of Carlson's answer to the question, what are some of INTL Korea's milestones? And it is to Matt Yoon that Carlson credits the take-off of INTL Korea's business.

Clearly, Carlson likes Matt Yoon, the managing director of INTL FCStone Securities, Inc. But the frequency with which the name is sprinkled into Carlson's answers also reflects the company's philosophy.

"I think that the Korean market is very unique and you would be foolish to go and apply your trade in Korea without the leadership of people who are highly respected in that market," said Carlson. "We understand how important it is to be authentically Korean. We express that authentic Korean-ness by having our operation led by Matt and [fellow Korean] Kris."

INTL Korea's journey began in 2009, when a New York-based boutique investment banking and alternative asset management firm focused on emerging markets then known as the Provident Group penetrated the Korean market after hiring Yoon, a former Bear Stearns associate. The Provident Group merged with INTL FCStone Inc. in 2010 and became the INTL Provident Group. Following a brand reconciliation process last month, it is known today as INTL FCStone Securities Inc., Investment Banking.

A Fortune 500 company, INTL FCStone provides execution and advisory services in commodities, capital markets, currencies, asset management and more in nearly 140 countries.

The merger two years ago expanded operations in Korea, where a staff of four, including Yoon and the aforementioned Kris Ghil, now splits their time between Korea and New York. They focus on investment banking - on capital raising and advisory services for middle market firms in Korea and on cross-border transactions. INTL Korea will eventually offer all the products and services of INTL FCStone.

"We noticed that there were lots of folks in Korea doing and providing investment banking services, like Macquarie, Goldman Sachs..." said Carlson, also the CEO of INTL FCStone Securities Inc., Investment Banking. "But we also noticed that those folks were giving their attention to just the largest firms and that the middle market firms were really not being served."

In other words, Yoon added, a family-owned business wanting to raise capital from a non-Korean source to diversify its market would likely have had trouble locating an appropriate strategic banking firm before INTL Korea entered the picture.

In the past three years, INTL Korea has closed seven middle market transactions in the $20 million to $500 million range and significantly grown its pipeline of deals. Noteworthy transactions include raising $11 million in the form of convertible notes from Albright Capital for Jin Young Precision Machine, the sale of HKR to a Hong Kong-based buy-out fund called Headland Capital and deals for Korean banks investing in Brazil and the United States.

Korea serves as an important part of INTL FCStone's investment banking service, Carlson said.

"We're looking for a lot of growth and we intend to make significant investments in the form of time, money and people into the Korean opportunity set," he said.

To make this happen, Carlson and his staff intend to focus on what lies at the heart of their work - the people.

"They make everything happen for us," he said. "And what we believe in and want to convey is that we believe in developing authentic and deep, long-term relationships, and what we want to provide is highly customized services that authentically meet their needs."