Daishin Securities Co., a South Korean midsize brokerage, sponsored the most domestic initial public offerings (IPO) in the first quarter, surprisingly beating out bigger players.

According to a study by the Maeil Business Newspaper on Tuesday, the firm underwrote for five IPOs. The deals were worth 174.5 billion won ($163.8 million) when counting in what the investment bank sold in the market.

Samsung Securities Co. came second arranging a single deal worth 65.3 billion won, followed by Korea Investment & Securities Co. with 62.6 billion won, NH Investment & Securities Co. 52.8 billion won, and Shinhan Investment Corp. 40.4 billion won, with the latter three each managing two deals.

With blockbuster IPOs missing in the first-quarter pipeline, Daishin Securities proved to be a reliable book-runner for mid or small-sized debutantes. In fact, the company is on a boutique scale with its net worth of 1.7 trillion won being half of that in the front-tier group. Last year, it arranged seven deals worth 122.9 billion won.

It has recently turned aggressive in investment banking. Earlier this year, it added an advisory division to the IB unit to make it a three-part structure along with the IPO division and IB division. The move came after last year’s sweeping executive overhaul, which replaced the heads of the IB and Project Financing units to younger leaders in their 40s.

IPOs also on tap from Daishin are webnovel platform Munpia, Rainbow Robotics, precision coating company Johns Media, leisure sports firm Namhwa Industry, budget carrier T’way Air, and virtual education provider Sigong Education.

By Chung Woo-sung and Kim Hyo-jin

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]