Mirae Asset Consulting agreed to acquire 92.06 percent of Korbit in an all-cash transaction valued at 133.5 billion KRW (about $92–93 million), covering approximately 26.91 million shares. The buyer’s board approved the transaction on February 5, the deal was disclosed on February 13, and closing is expected within seven business days after regulatory and contractual conditions are satisfied. Sellers include NXC and Simple Capital Futures (together about 60.5 percent), SK Square which exited its roughly 31.5 percent holding through SK Planet, and Bitstamp (now under Robinhood) which retains about eight percent. Mirae is using a non-financial affiliate for the acquisition to comply with Korean rules separating securities businesses and crypto exchanges. Korbit is the fourth-largest of five licensed exchanges in Korea, holds about one percent market share, reported 8.7 billion KRW in revenue and 9.8 billion KRW in net profit for the most recent year, and recorded a 30-day trading volume increase of 454 percent to roughly $2.8 billion. The acquisition gives Mirae an owned exchange license and an operational platform to pursue tokenized products and security token offerings, and Mirae Asset Group manages roughly $418 billion in assets. Korean regulators are advancing frameworks for security tokens and on-chain bonds through 2026 and are considering proposals to cap single-owner stakes in exchanges at roughly 15 to 20 percent. By acquiring control now, Mirae secures management authority that could be grandfathered if ownership caps become law. Immediate integration tasks include obtaining approvals, securing banking connectivity and custody arrangements, and integrating risk and compliance controls, and identified risks include regulatory clearance, sponsor bank and counterparty agreement, and migration of systems, data, and controls. The buyer and exchange indicated that day-to-day operations are expected to remain stable during the handover and that potential additions such as fiat connectivity, custody services, and compliant tokenized offerings would be subject to regulatory approvals.
Source: https://web3businessnews.com/crypto/mirae-asset-buys-korbit-92-stake/