A private equity fund of IBK Securities is expected to take over a large portion of Kumho Industrial worth 1 trillion won ($877 million), according to creditors of the Kumho Asiana Group’s unit.On Friday, creditor banks selected IBK Securities, a brokerage unit of the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea, as the preferred bidder for a package of Kumho Asiana’s transportation units.The M&A targets included Kumho Industrial’s 100 percent stake in Kumho Buslines, 38.74 percent in Seoul Express Bus Te

Dec. 23, 2011

Hana Financial Group is expected to take over Jeil 2 Savings Bank and Ace Mutual Savings Bank, beating another bidder Kiwoom Securities, according to government officials.An official of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. said Thursday that the state-run agency will unveil the preferred bidder as early as Friday. He added that “there is a high possibility that Hana Financial will be picked.”Jeil 2 Savings Bank, which is headquartered in Seoul, has assets of 503.7 billion won ($441.8 million). Ace

Dec. 22, 2011

Korea Exchange Bank and its biggest shareholder Lone Star Funds lost an international suit filed by Olympus Capital, the formerly second-largest shareholder of KEB’s credit card affiliate. 　The International Court of Arbitration of Singapore, in its recent verdict, ordered KEB, Lone Star and three other parties to pay Olympus Capital $37.3 million (43 billion won) with arrear of interest of 5 percent per annum.　The equity fund Olympus Capital had argued that KEB breached its contract with the th

Dec. 21, 2011

The nation’s two largest private lenders face suspension for allegedly charging some borrowers illegal interest rates, officials said on Tuesday.Gangnam Ward Office of Seoul, which has investigated these practices in coordination with the Financial Supervisory Service, said Tuesday that it would halt the operations of Rush N Cash and Sanwa Money soon.The private loan industry’s No. 1 player Rush N Cash and No. 2 player Sanwa Money have been suspected of violating the upper ceiling of 39 percent

Dec. 20, 2011

Global rating firms predicted Monday that the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il would not lead to a downgrade of South Korea’s credit rating.Moody’s Investors Service said that the economic fundamentals of Seoul would not change with Kim’s death.“We will continue to rate South Korea on the basis of its economic, institutional and government financial fundamentals,” a senior vice president at Moody’s in Singapore was quoted by a Chinese news provider as saying.He said these would not chang

Dec. 19, 2011

The list of the nation’s first homegrown hedge funds will be unveiled this week.More than 10 “Korean-style” hedge funds are expected to make their historic debut on Dec. 23, according to the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Financial Investment Association.Over the past few weeks, the FSC has looked into the eligibility of 13 asset management companies, which applied for the homegrown hedge fund business.Most of them are set to introduce one hedge fund product late this month or early

Dec. 18, 2011

Korea’s six non-life insurance companies saw their earnings in overseas markets drop by 52.2 percent on a year-on-year basis, due mainly to natural disasters and lax risk management.Overseas operations of three companies have led the fall in net profit. They were Samsung Fire & Marine, Korea Re and LIG Insurance, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.Samsung Fire & Marine’s overseas unit reported a net profit of $5.43 million during the April and September period, a drop of $3.91 millio

Dec. 18, 2011

FSC follows court’s ruling to publicize U.S. fund’s eligibilityThe Financial Services Commission has made public its records on Lone Star Funds from the eight years since the regulator approved the fund’s takeover of Korea Exchange Bank in 2003.On Thursday, the FSC sent related documents on Lone Star to the civic group Solidarity for Economic Reform.The documents involve the regulator’s ruling as to whether the U.S.-based fund was eligible to own KEB between September 2003 and June 2006.After a

Dec. 15, 2011

FSC follows court’s ruling to publicize U.S. fund’s eligibilityThe Financial Services Commission has made public its records on Lone Star Funds in the eight years since the regulator approved the fund’s takeover of Korea Exchange Bank in 2003.On Thursday, the FSC sent related documents on Lone Star to the civic group Solidarity for Economic Reform.The documents involve the regulator’s ruling as to whether the U.S.-based fund was eligible to own KEB between September 2003 and June 2006.After a fo

Dec. 15, 2011

Report says 2003 documents were written by regulators, not accounting firmFinancial regulators are suspected of fabricating documents on Lone Star Funds in 2003 when Korea Exchange Bank was acquired by the buyout fund, according to a news report.At least over the past few months, the Financial Services Commission (then the Financial Supervisory Commission) has argued that the records, submitted by an accounting firm, prove that Lone Star was eligible to own a Korean bank.But the documents were a

Dec. 14, 2011