Korea’s LS Group to operate brokerage firm LS Securities

South Korean cable-to-energy giant LS Group said on Monday that it has renamed brokerage subsidiary eBest Investment & Securities to LS Securities Co. to strengthen its brand awareness and competitive edge under the country’s 16th-largest conglomerate.

The rebranding came as the brokerage house’s largest shareholder LS Networks Corp., LG Group’s outdoor fashion and raw materials trading arm, decided changing the name in January of this year.

Market insiders expect LS Securities to boost its investment banking business and play a key role in equity and debt transactions of LS Group and LG Group, Korea’s No. 4 conglomerate which spun off LS Group in 2003.

“We will actively accelerate raising the brand value, strengthening systemic innovation capabilities and advancing into new businesses to grow as one of the top 10 brokerage firms in Korea,” said LS Securities Chief Executive Kim Won Kyu.

Formerly E*Trade Securities, eBest was founded in 1999 as a joint venture of the US-based E*Trade Securities LLC, Japan’s Softbank Corp. and Korea’s LG Investment & Securities. The JV has increased its total equity to 870.9 billion won ($631.5 million) as of the end of last year, expanding its business in IB, wholesale and retail brokerage and sales and trading.

The JV’s major shareholders became E*Trade’s Japanese affiliate and Softbank in 2004 as LG Group sold LG Card and LG Investment & Securities amid the units’ default crises. In 2008, LS Networks-backed G&A Private Equity acquired E*Trade in Korea via a 335 billion won fund.

Renamed eBest in April 2015, the brokerage firm was purchased by LS Networks as the trading firm acquired a 60.98% stake from G&A Private Equity.

LS Networks received the Financial Services Commission’s approval last month to become the largest shareholder of the brokerage house. It will be officially LS Group affiliate after the Korea Fair Trade Commission’s screening for merger and acquisition.

Write to Sang-Gi Lee at remind@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.