Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City Attracts Two Global Firms in Shipping Brokerage and Marine-Industry Asset Management, Accelerating Its Drive to Become a Specialized Marine Finance Hub

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□ Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) and the Busan International Finance Agency (President Lee Myeong-ho) announced that they have reached a preliminary agreement on the opening of a Busan office by Clarksons Korea (hereinafter “Clarksons”), the world’s largest shipping brokerage, and the relocation of the headquarters of Waterline Partners (hereinafter “Waterline”), a marine-industry specialized asset manager, to Busan.

○ This corporate attraction initiative is expected to mark a milestone in strengthening Busan’s practical marine finance capabilities by combining global shipping data with private capital, and to serve as a core driver of a “marine finance revival in Busan” that will invigorate the local economy in connection with the relocation of public institutions.

□ This achievement is significant in that the simultaneous move-in of Clarksons, a world-class shipping brokerage institution, and Waterline, a specialized private marine asset manager, helps expand the private-sector marine finance infrastructure that Busan has lacked due to its previous reliance on policy finance. This is the result of sustained engagement that the city has built through ongoing points of contact with global companies, including “Marine Finance Week” and financial-company attraction briefings, and is expected to inject new, private-sector-driven momentum into Busan’s marine finance ecosystem going forward.

○ Founded in the United Kingdom in 1852, Clarksons— the world’s largest shipping brokerage and consulting firm and a London Stock Exchange-listed company—has more than 50 networks in 25 countries. Through the establishment of a Busan branch of its Korean subsidiary, Clarksons Korea, it plans to provide not only support for offshore wind power projects but also its unrivaled shipping data analytics capabilities in earnest to the regional financial sector.
○ Waterline, a specialized asset manager spanning the full value chain of the global marine industry, has extensive experience and a global network across marine alternative investment fields, including ship finance, port infrastructure, logistics, and shipbuilding equipment and materials, and currently manages marine funds totaling approximately KRW 40 billion. In particular, by pursuing a phased relocation of its headquarters to Busan through this attraction effort, Waterline is expected to play a pivotal role in building the regional marine finance ecosystem by identifying promising investment opportunities and expanding returns.

□ This corporate move-in will serve as a key bridge in advancing Busan’s marine finance from a “public-sector-led” approach to a “private-sector collaborative model” by organically combining the capital strength of existing policy financial institutions with Clarksons’ global market intelligence and Waterline’s flexible investment strategy. In particular, by matching high value-added projects based on global networks with domestic policy finance, the city expects to maximize the potential to realize tangible “global deals,” enabling the full-scale operation of a “Busan-style marine finance model” that integrates public-sector stability with private-sector creativity.

○ The city plans to spare no administrative support for the incoming companies, including providing office facilities, rent-free lease support, and networking opportunities with policy financial institutions, and will actively support the companies in collaborating with the regional financial ecosystem to generate synergy effects.

□ Choi Jae-seong, CEO of Clarksons Korea, stated, “The opening of a Busan office by Clarksons, the world’s No. 1 ship brokerage, will have a positive impact on other global maritime service companies and financial institutions entering Busan, and will contribute to Busan establishing itself as a true hub for the Asian shipping industry.”

□ Jeong U-song, CEO of Waterline, stated, “At the marine-industry mecca of Busan, Waterline Partners seeks to open a new horizon for marine investment finance in the Republic of Korea. Based on our expertise in the marine industry and the fundamentals of investment finance, we will develop into a specialized global marine finance asset manager.”

□ Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “If Busan’s marine finance has so far laid its foundation centered on policy institutions, now is the time for Clarksons, with its global intelligence, and an innovative private-sector asset manager to lead the market,” adding, “We will spare no administrative and financial support so that these global companies can establish stable roots in the region.”
□ He continued, “Using this as a catalyst, we will bring more global small and medium-sized marine finance leaders to Busan and solidly fill out the substance of Busan as a marine finance hub.”