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The 11-year-old auction house has been aiming to build a regional presence through Hong Kong auctions of Western and Asian works. In particular, it has focused on getting Chinese and other Asian collectors interested in modern Western and contemporary art, hoping to beat Sotheby's and Christie's in the region. Last May it sold Hirst's first work in Asia, Tranquility from his "Butterfly Series," for $1.71 million.

Seoul Auction, which hopes to take a fifth of the Hong Kong auction market by next year, is the only Asian firm challenging the two big global houses. Says Jun Lee, who heads the Korean house, "We started from a point of view: Let's do what Sotheby's and Christie's are not doing. That is, postwar contemporary arts."

Read more at Reuters.