Korean major Mirae to float mutual fund

South Korea is all set to debut in the Indian financial services market with Mirae Asset group entering the mutual fund business.

KIM Mi Seob, executive director, Mirae Asset Global Investment Management (Asia), told Business Standard, "We have submitted the sponsor registration forms to Sebi and are awaiting the approval."

The company intends to set up a wholly owned subsidiary and will not rope in a partner.

Besides mutual funds, Mirae is also looking at other portfolios. "We are very keen on a variety of business operations in India. Apart from AMC business, which would be the top priority of Mirae Asset in India, we plan to gradually expand our business into new areas in accordance with the market conditions," he said.

Mirae Asset, which already has $800 million invested in Indian equities, is expected to raise another $200 million from Korean investors for investments in Indian stocks.

At present there are no AMCs with Korean origin. Most of the foreign companies are from America and Europe and some from Japan.

Mirae Asset Group, is an independent financial group in Korea and has worldwide operations, providing value-added financial services and competitive products.

The proposed entry of Mirae Asset comes at a time when other players such as Japan's Shinsei bank, UBS, Aviva and Pioneer are planning to enter the domestic mutual fund business.

The Tokyo-based Shinsei Bank is also all set to foray into the domestic mutual fund business by forming a joint venture Asset Management Company (AMC) with Andhra Bank.

If the deal goes through, Shinsei becomes the second Japanese financial services company to enter into the AMC business in India. Last month Nikko Asset Management Co tied up with Ambit RSM for the AMC business.