Korea Asset Investment Securities Co. is readying to go public on the secondary Kosdaq bourse to be the 12th securities company in Korea to publicly trade.

The company said Monday it has submitted an application for a preliminary review for its initial public offering (IPO) plan to the Korea Exchange. If it successfully goes public, it would be the first IPO of a domestic securities firm since eBest Investment & Securities Co. made debut on the Kosdaq in 2007. Details of the IPO schedule were not disclosed.

Korea Asset Investment Securities is a small but a solid profit making brokerage house. With an equity capital of 49.2 billion won ($41.7 million) as of the end of last year, the company gets half of its revenue from the IB service, and 30 percent from the debt business.

The company based on the stable revenue structure has reported profits for the past six years since it was acquired by the current owner, and its return on equity (ROE), a measure of profitability, reaches over 10 percent.

Korea Asset Investment Securities is planning to use the IPO proceeds to strengthen its major businesses to scale up to a mid-tier player.

By Chung Hee-young and Lee Ha-yeon

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