Shinhan Card announced Thursday that its Kazakhstan unit, Shinhan Finance, secured about 31 billion won ($24 million) from Aster, a leading automobile dealer in the Central Asian country, for a new joint venture, becoming the first Korean card company to win investment from an overseas entity.

The two companies agreed to set up a joint venture worth 62 billion won to seek synergy in Kazakhstan’s burgeoning microfinance market. Under the partnership, Aster will invest 31 billion won into Shinhan Finance over the next five years to acquire a 49.9 percent stake in the venture.

This is also the first time a Korean card issuer is establishing a joint venture with a foreign corporation.

The card operator on Wednesday held a signing ceremony at its headquarters in Seoul, with Shinhan Card CEO Moon Dong-kwon, Aster Group Chairperson Alexey Bakal and other officials of both companies in attendance.

"Shinhan Finance is taking a new leap forward through this joint venture," Moon said during the ceremony. "We will continue to explore the local market and turn Shinhan Finance into a 'retail finance specialist,' eventually becoming the third-biggest multifinance firm in the industry."

Shinhan Finance was founded in Almaty, Kazakhstan in November 2014 as Shinhan Card's first overseas subsidiary and has expanded its business with a focus on microfinance products, including auto and credit loans.

In 2020, the Korean card issuer's Kazakh arm signed a partnership with the country's No. 1 car manufacturer Asia Auto, and went on to ink a deal with top used-car seller Aster Auto the next year.

Now the fifth-largest microfinance lender in Kazakhstan, Shinhan Finance has logged 55 percent annual growth on average over the last three years. As of the third quarter this year, the firm was worth around 145.7 billion won by total assets.