Asia’s first to issue $70 million in digital bonds, Mirae Asset’s shares surged on Thursday to overtake Woori Financial in market capitalization
ByYe-Jin Jun and Han-Shin Park
Park Hyeon-joo, founder and chairman of Mirae Asset Group, one of the largest asset managers in South Korea, has pledged to plow gains from high-profile investments in Elon Musk’s SpaceX and xAI into an ambitious program of overseas mergers and acquisitions, as the group seeks to reposition itself for what he describes as a historic inflection point in global finance.
“The profits generated from our investments in SpaceX and xAI will be reinvested into global M&A,” Park, also Mirae Asset’s global strategy officer, said in a recent interview with The Korea Economic Daily.
Founded by Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk in 2002, SpaceX develops launch vehicles such as the reusable Falcon 9 rocket, which is used by commercial satellite operators and the US government.
The company’s Starlink division has deployed over 7,000 low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites, serving some 5 million households worldwide.
Park estimated that operating profits and investment exits accumulated over the next five years from SpaceX and xAI would total about $20 billion — capital he intends to aggressively deploy into future growth engines.
Park has been personally overseeing dealmaking since the start of the year, touring group affiliates in China, Singapore, Australia and the US.
On Friday, he is due to deliver a New Year’s address from Australia to staff worldwide, outlining what he calls a strategy for a “second founding” of the group.
TOKENIZATION: END OF ASSET BORDERS
Park framed his strategy in sweeping terms, arguing that the rise of artificial intelligence is reshaping capitalism.
“Humanity is standing at the steepest turning point in history,” he said. “The AI-driven upheaval has brought about harsh realities of wealth and job polarization.”
He added that the world is moving from an era in which capital generated wealth to one defined by productivity asymmetry, where AI concentrates productivity and capability.
“Those who read change early and act decisively will redraw the map of wealth,” Park said.
At the heart of Mirae Asset’s strategy is tokenization, the digitization of real and financial assets on blockchain-based platforms, and the construction of a global investment network.
Park said the group’s move to acquire Korean cryptocurrency exchange Korbit is a strategic foothold, adding that Mirae Asset will enable digital asset trading via its mobile trading system when it launches in Hong Kong in June.
Retail-focused platforms are also under development in the US and China.
“Our goal is to build a digital asset investment grid that connects the world by tokenizing all assets across the group – traditional, alternative and digital,” he said.
ASIA’S FIRST DIGITAL BONDS
On Thursday, Mirae Asset Securities Co. successfully issued 100 billion won ($70 million) of digital bonds, becoming the first financial institution in Asia to do so.
The bonds, denominated in Hong Kong and US dollars, integrate blockchain technology into the conventional bond market.
Park described the transaction as a “signal flare” for the digital transformation of finance.
The bonds were privately placed using tokenization platforms and blockchain infrastructure, automating issuance, coupon payments and redemption through distributed ledger technology, while enabling real-time settlement.
“That this scale of funding was raised points to a major transformation in capital markets,” he said. “It presents a new model of borderless capital raising.”
M&As ACROSS THE US, EUROPE, CHINA
Park said Mirae Asset will integrate artificial intelligence capabilities from its overseas acquisitions, including US-based AI finance firm Wealthspot and Australia’s robo-adviser specialist Stockspot, into its global trading platforms.
“We will fuse Wealthspot’s AI wealth management capabilities with our own platforms,” he said, adding that the group aims to evolve into a “digital asset manager” with a decisive competitive edge.
Reinvesting profits to create what he called a “super-gap” over rivals, Park said Mirae Asset is actively exploring acquisitions in the US, Europe and China.
The group also plans to establish a venture capital arm in San Francisco and increase investments in Silicon Valley AI companies, having already backed startups such as Cohere Inc. and Perplexity AI Inc.
“At a time like this, what matters is strategic insight that cuts through uncertainty, and the courage to decide without fear of failure,” Park said. “We will keep innovating as eternal first movers.”
SHARES SURGE, OVERTAKING WOORI IN TERMS OF MARKET CAP
Mirae Asset Securities’ shares surged 17.4% on Thursday, lifting its market capitalization to 23.2 trillion won and overtaking that of Woori Financial Group for the first time, a landmark moment in Korea’s financial sector, when a securities firm has eclipsed a financial holding company by market value.
The rally reflects a booming domestic equity market and growing investor focus on Mirae Asset’s global investment record.
The group invested about $278 million in SpaceX between 2022 and 2023, and more than $10 million in xAI last year, fueling expectations of substantial capital gains as SpaceX prepares for a potential initial public offering.
Combined with the integration of overseas acquisitions such as India’s Sharekhan Ltd., analysts said Mirae Asset is increasingly viewed as a credible global investment bank.
“The market is pricing in its evolution into a global IB,” said an asset management executive in Seoul.