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NongHyup Financial likely to acquire Woori Investment & Securities
By Korea HeraldPublished : Dec. 23, 2013 - 19:42
The chief financial regulator clarified that policymakers will sell Woori Investment & Securities with two other units of the state-funded Woori Financial Group.
“I believe a batch sale is appropriate. The final decision will be made at a board of directors’ meeting at Woori Financial Group,” Financial Services Commission chairman Shin Je-yoon told reporters on Monday.
His remarks come after NongHyup Financial Group proposed a higher bidding price of 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion) for the auction package, composed of Woori Investment & Securities, Woori Aviva Life Insurance and Woori Financial Savings Bank.
Its competitor KB Financial Group suggested a bidding price of 1 trillion won. KB Financial Group has argued that the government should sell the three units separately to maximize the recoup of taxpayers’ money.
KB Financial, whose brokerage sector is relatively weak compared to its bank and credit card units, had expressed interest in the upcoming bidding for Woori Investment.
The sale package is drawing extraordinary interest among potential bidders as it includes the lucrative stock brokerage unit Woori Investment & Securities, the No. 1 player based on assets and No. 2 based on equity capital in the Korean securities sector.
The second package for the group, which had been injected with taxpayer money, consists of two provincial banks: South Gyeongsang Province-based Kyongnam Bank and South Jeolla Province-based Kwangju Bank. The two units represent up to 14.6 percent of Woori Financial in terms of assets.
The third package features the core unit Woori Bank, the second-largest lender in the nation with assets of 266 trillion won, which account for 75 percent of the group’s total assets.
The group plans to merge its holding company Woori Finance Holdings with Woori Bank before going up for auction, combining the credit card unit and the financial research unit.
The FSC said it plans to complete the deal (handing over shares to the preferred bidder) for the three batches by October 2014.
By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)
“I believe a batch sale is appropriate. The final decision will be made at a board of directors’ meeting at Woori Financial Group,” Financial Services Commission chairman Shin Je-yoon told reporters on Monday.
His remarks come after NongHyup Financial Group proposed a higher bidding price of 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion) for the auction package, composed of Woori Investment & Securities, Woori Aviva Life Insurance and Woori Financial Savings Bank.
Its competitor KB Financial Group suggested a bidding price of 1 trillion won. KB Financial Group has argued that the government should sell the three units separately to maximize the recoup of taxpayers’ money.
KB Financial, whose brokerage sector is relatively weak compared to its bank and credit card units, had expressed interest in the upcoming bidding for Woori Investment.
The sale package is drawing extraordinary interest among potential bidders as it includes the lucrative stock brokerage unit Woori Investment & Securities, the No. 1 player based on assets and No. 2 based on equity capital in the Korean securities sector.
The second package for the group, which had been injected with taxpayer money, consists of two provincial banks: South Gyeongsang Province-based Kyongnam Bank and South Jeolla Province-based Kwangju Bank. The two units represent up to 14.6 percent of Woori Financial in terms of assets.
The third package features the core unit Woori Bank, the second-largest lender in the nation with assets of 266 trillion won, which account for 75 percent of the group’s total assets.
The group plans to merge its holding company Woori Finance Holdings with Woori Bank before going up for auction, combining the credit card unit and the financial research unit.
The FSC said it plans to complete the deal (handing over shares to the preferred bidder) for the three batches by October 2014.
By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)
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Articles by Korea Herald
