NEW YORK, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Mirae Asset Global Investments, the USD $50 billion South Korean asset management firm and one of the world's leading emerging markets equity managers, recently announced the launch of its United States business, Mirae Asset Global Investments (USA) and the opening of a New York office. The firm also announced the appointment of industry veteran Timothy Hill as Head of Mirae Asset's North American Sales.

"Mirae Asset has seen an increased interest in emerging markets investing, and requests for advice in portfolio globalization among sophisticated investors," said Jay Jang, President of Mirae Asset Global Investments (USA). The US office will offer local management expertise in emerging Asian equity markets via separate accounts to large US institutions and ultra high net worth clients. "In addition, the NY office is the headquarters for the investment team that manages Mirae Asset's US holdings and will rely on the firm's rigorous proprietary research that employs a detailed bottom up approach from both a sector and country point of view, complemented by macro inputs," added Jang.

Timothy Hill will develop the North American business and comes to Mirae Asset after a six year career with Lehman Brothers where he was most recently Co-Head of Institutional Sales for LibertyView Capital Management and directed that hedge fund's global institutional marketing process, excluding funds-of-funds. Prior to LibertyView, Hill was a senior vice president in Lehman's Investment Solutions Group where he was instrumental in successfully accelerating the growth of managed hedge fund assets.

Before joining Lehman Brothers, Hill held various sales, trading and risk management positions in the derivatives area for Kovell-Caldwell, LLC in San Francisco, ABN-AMRO Holdings in Chicago, and O'Connor and Associates / Swiss Bank Corporation (now part of UBS) in Zurich, London and New York. Hill was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was elected Senior Class President of the Class of 1990.

"Mirae Asset has successfully built its business by effectively vetting the ideas for its investment recommendations through cross - analyses between various sector and country teams, together with an in depth discussion of portfolio construction and investment strategy within an investment group," noted Hill. "The firm intends to actively add niche Asian-focused products to its US platform and hire additional salespeople in the US as we build the business."

About Mirae Asset Global Investments

Mirae Asset, one of the global leaders in emerging market equities with approximately USD $33 billion in this asset class (as of June 30, 2009), was founded in 1997 by Hyeon-Joo Park, who launched Korea's first mutual fund in 1998. The firm's US office in New York adds to Mirae Asset's global network of offices that employ over 400 professionals in South Korea, Hong Kong, India, Brazil and the United Kingdom, and representative (research) offices in China and Vietnam. Mirae Asset has the highest ratio (73.8%) of emerging markets equity to total AUM of the top 20 emerging markets equity managers globally according to Investment and Pensions Europe: Investing in Emerging Market Equities Survey, July /August Edition 2008. Mirae Asset is also the clear market leader in the domestic Korean Equity Fund market, with roughly a 37% market share. Since 2002, the firm has received numerous performance awards and commendations from both Korean and international financial publications. The Mirae Asset (USA) office is located at: One Bryant Park, 39(th) Floor, New York, N. Y. 10036. The web site is www.miraeasset.com.

SOURCE Mirae Asset Global Investments