[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]Jefferies today announced that it is entering into an alliance with Mirae Asset Securities (Vietnam) JSC (“Mirae Vietnam”) to distribute Mirae Vietnam’s equity research on companies in Vietnam on a co-branded basis to Jefferies’ global client base. Additionally, Mirae Vietnam will provide local equity broking services to Jefferies.

Mirae Vietnam was established as a joint venture of which Mirae Asset Financial Group, one of Asia’s largest independent financial services groups, holds the largest stake. Mirae Vietnam is a top player in the Vietnamese securities industry, offering clients a comprehensive pool of financial services including brokerage, investment banking and trading. Jefferies has an existing relationship with Mirae Asset Securities in Korea, where each firm distributes equity research on a co-branded basis to their respective institutional clients.

Over the last year, Jefferies has also formed similar alliances in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand to broaden the firm’s equity research offering to its global client base. These alliances now include more than 50 analysts covering some 325 companies in the region.

Michael Alexander, Chief Executive Officer of Jefferies Asia, commented, “We are pleased to expand our agreement with Mirae Asset Securities to continue to grow our equities platform to better serve our diverse and global client base. This strengthened alliance further adds to Jefferies’ best-in-class global equity research and strategy product.”

Jae Sang Byun, Chief Executive Officer at Mirae Asset Securities also commented, “We are delighted to strengthen our relationship with Jefferies to continue to deliver our research product to a broader and more diverse institutional client base.”

Peter Forlenza, Global Head of Equities at Jefferies, added, “We continue to improve and expand our Pan-Asia equity research platform across the region to provide our global clients with valuable insight coupled with exceptional execution and distribution.”