Shinhan Card Establishes JV through Investment Attraction from Kazakhstan's Aster Corporation

On the afternoon of the 27th, an investment contract ceremony was held at the Shinhan Card headquarters, where Moon Dong-kwon, President of Shinhan Card (right), and Alexey Bakal, Chairman of Aster Group, are posing for a commemorative photo.

Shinhan Card announced on the 28th that it will take a step forward as a joint venture (JV) by attracting joint investment in its overseas subsidiary Shinhan Finance, nine years after entering Kazakhstan.

Shinhan Finance plans to receive joint investment of approximately 31 billion KRW in capital over the next five years through a joint partnership agreement with Aster, a Kazakhstani automobile dealer. Based on this agreement, Shinhan Finance will transform into a JV with about 62 billion KRW in equity capital through phased joint investments with Aster. Aster is expected to ultimately acquire approximately 49.9% of the JV shares. Shinhan Finance aims to become a ‘retail specialized financial company’ leading the Kazakhstani retail finance (MFO) market based on the synergy between the two companies.

Shinhan Finance was established in November 2014 as Shinhan Card’s first overseas subsidiary. It handles retail loan products such as auto financing and credit loans, focusing on Kazakhstan’s three major key cities: Almaty, Nur-Sultan, and Shymkent. As of the third quarter of this year, it has shown an average annual growth rate of 55% over the past three years, with a transaction amount of 79.6 billion KRW and total assets of 145.7 billion KRW. It ranks fifth among more than 230 local retail loan financial companies.

Moon Dong-kwon, CEO of Shinhan Card, said, “Shinhan Finance, which has grown based on the top financial know-how in the domestic industry, is entering a new phase of growth through this joint investment,” and added, “We will continue to develop Shinhan Finance into a ‘retail specialized financial company’ through relentless exploration of the local market.”