Korea Investment & Securities Co. has secured its first-ever joint lead arranger seat on a global mega-deal, joining Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Securities and Barclays on the roughly €4.5 billion (approximately USD 4.9 billion) debt package backing Carlyle Group's €7.7 billion acquisition of BASF SE's coatings division, marking a historic first for a Korean securities firm in international leveraged finance.
The transaction — in which Carlyle Group and co-investor Qatar Investment Authority are carving out BASF's automotive OEM coatings, refinish coatings and surface-treatment businesses — is expected to close in Q2 2026. BASF will retain a 40% equity stake in the newly independent company and receive pre-tax cash proceeds of roughly €5.8 billion from the sale, according to joint statements from BASF and Carlyle.
Korea Investment & Securities joins a consortium of global lenders that includes Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities, Barclays, Citi, HSBC, Jefferies, Santander, SMBC and Wells Fargo on the deal's debt structuring. Its inclusion as a joint lead arranger — rather than a junior participant or sub-underwriter — signals a meaningful step up in its cross-border capabilities and marks the first time a Korean broker has reached that tier on a European buyout of this size.
The achievement builds on an accelerating international franchise. The Seoul-based firm has backed 27 cross-border acquisition deals over the past five years and finished first among Korean securities firms in Q1 2026 acquisition financing with ₩942.4 billion (approximately USD 680 million) across six deals — the only domestic house approaching the one-trillion-won threshold for the quarter. Its relationship with Carlyle stretches back to a ₩165 billion refinancing for Carlyle's Kakao Mobility stake, completed earlier in 2026.
Under a broader strategic alliance with Carlyle, Korea Investment & Securities committed to invest approximately USD 300 million into Carlyle-managed funds and gain access to USD 4 billion annually in overseas credit products. CEO Jung Il-moon said the firm would "strengthen competitiveness and capabilities overseas" by expanding channels for overseas investment bank transactions through Carlyle's global network. The BASF mandate appears to be the first tangible test of that ambition at the mega-deal level.
The transaction also highlights a structural shift in the Korean investment-banking landscape. Korean brokerages have long dominated domestic equity issuance and mid-market debt but have been largely absent from the fee-rich global leveraged-finance market, where European and Japanese banks with larger balance sheets have historically crowded out Asian entrants. With Korean conglomerates executing more cross-border buyouts and global private equity firms deepening local relationships, the deal-flow for Seoul-based arrangers is expanding — as is the competition to win a seat at the table.
Sources: KED Global · Korea Herald · Seoul Economic Daily · Carlyle
