Overseas enterprises are interested and eager in pursuit of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) opportunities in Korea regardless of the impeachment procedure on President Park Geun-hye, said David Chung, co-country head of Goldman Sachs Korea, the world’s biggest investment banker.

In an exclusive interview with the Maeil Business Newspaper, the first media interview since his appointment as a sole country manager after his co-head departed, he said global investors remain interested in South Korea, the biggest M&A market in Asia.

Large companies cannot outright seek M&A deals given current sensitive political situation with anti-corporate sentiment from allegations on shady deals with the president and her inner circle, but are nevertheless are discreetly in pursuit, he said.

Korean M&A market poses appealing to foreign investors because of regulation on foreign ownership in China and anti-foreign sentiment in Japan, he added.

Global investors have higher expectations in post-impeachment Korea amid anticipation for upgrade in Korean politics and overall system.

“Foreigners have confidence in the Korean market and believe it to have advanced to global standards as proven by relative stability in the market despite of North Korean provocation,” he said.

KOSPI, the local fear gauge that measures market volatility of KOSPI-listed companies, represented 11.84 on Dec. 9, 2016, when the National Assembly voted for impeachment of President Park. That’s a mere 1.37 percent rise from the previous session and just half of 22.53 tallied on Jun. 24 of the same year, when fears of Brexit (British exit from the European Union) mounted.

The measure trended slightly downward after the parliamentary impeachment, posting 10.64 at the end of February, much lower from 17.56 a year ago. Moreover, foreign capital flowed into the Korean stock market for the first two months of this year came to more than $157 million, the second highest among Asian countries only behind Taiwan ($372 million).

By Kang Doo-soon and Han Woo-ram

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