Korea Investment & Securities Co. (KIS) inked a deal to acquire an Indonesian brokerage firm for 40 billion won ($36.6 million) to venture into the world’s fourth most populous country.

The Korean company said on Tuesday it agreed to buy a 75 percent stake in Jakarta-based PT Danpac Sekuritas plus management rights.

KIS plans to transfer Danpac into a local entity after gaining approval from Indonesian regulators early next year and hopes to start operations in the country in the first half of 2018.

Founded in 1989, Danpac is an unlisted mid-sized brokerage that provides stock and bond trading services. It ranks in Indonesia’s top 10 investment houses when it comes to government bonds. It holds 6.2 billion won in capital and has delivered an annual operating profit of 3 billion won for the past four years. Its return on equity, a key measure of profitability, was 14.9 percent as of last year.

“We plan to leverage our business expertise in Korea and Vietnam to make Danpac into one of Indonesia’s top 10 brokerages,” said Yoo Sang-ho, chief executive of KIS. He cited how the company helped a Vietnamese brokerage, which it acquired in 2010, boost its ranking in the 50s to the top 10 in five years.

KIS said it is keen on introducing Korea’s PC and mobile trading system to build a more user-friendly online platform for the 260 million Indonesians.

By Hong Jang-won and Kim Hyo-jin

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