Jung Geun-su (left), president of Shinhan Investment's CIB division, and Jung Hyun-kyung, chairwoman of MusicCow, pose for a photo at the MOU signing ceremony held Monday at Shinhan Investment's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. [Shinhan Investment]
Jung Geun-su (left), president of Shinhan Investment's CIB division, and Jung Hyun-kyung, chairwoman of MusicCow, pose for a photo at the MOU signing ceremony held Monday at Shinhan Investment's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. [Shinhan Investment]

Shinhan Investment has teamed up with MusicCow to establish a music intellectual property fund worth about 40 billion won ($26.1 million), entering the fractional investment market for music copyrights.

Shinhan Investment announced Wednesday that it signed a strategic MOU with MusicCow Invest to acquire music IP and issue fractional investment products.

Under the agreement, Shinhan Investment will serve as general partner and establish Music IP Fund No. 1, targeting about 40 billion won in assets. MusicCow will handle music valuation and the sourcing of high-quality IP, and the acquired rights will be packaged into fractional investment products for distribution on an over-the-counter exchange.

The partnership aims to drive early activation of the OTC exchange by securing high-quality underlying assets — a factor both sides see as critical to the market's success.

A domestic fractional investment OTC exchange is set to launch in the fourth quarter of this year, according to the financial investment industry. The market currently operates on a limited basis under a regulatory sandbox, but is expected to expand into a fully regulated distribution market ahead of the Security Token Offering law taking effect in February next year. Industry observers say the volume and quality of listed assets will determine early market competitiveness.

The two companies plan to complete music IP acquisitions in the second half of this year and finalize product issuance before the fourth-quarter OTC exchange opening. Going forward, they intend to build a reinvestment structure through early distribution and recovery of acquired music IP, and to broaden collaboration to include music producers, platforms and copyright holders. Building on the performance of Fund No. 1, they also plan to raise a continuation fund of more than 100 billion won.

Shinhan Investment said it intends to expand beyond its traditional corporate finance focus on lending and project financing into real-asset-based investment, including music copyrights and artworks.

"The quality and scale of listed assets will determine the success of the STO OTC exchange at launch," a Shinhan Investment official said. "The combination of a securities firm's investment banking capabilities and a content-specialized platform could become a landmark case for the fractional investment ecosystem."

A MusicCow official said the music IP acquisition project would "prove the core value of music investment — channeling healthy capital into the cultural industry to invigorate the creative ecosystem." The official added that the firm aims to "supply investors with attractive, high-quality assets and inject vitality into capital circulation within the cultural industry, creating an exemplary win-win model for a new financial market."


hajun825@heraldcorp.com