Lotte Insurance said Friday that it would not consider delisting itself from the country’s main bourse Kospi, refuting rumors by some local media reports.

Followed by the nation’s sole bourse operator’s call for explanation on the delisting rumors, the insurance firm made its official announcement via DART -- the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure board.

“This is to confirm that we are not considering to be delisted from the local market,” the statement read.

Media news outlets reported a day earlier that JKL Partners -- the private equity fund that had earlier bought Lotte Insurance -- would push ahead to buy stocks to delist the firm amid a lack of advantage of being listed in the local market.

In May last year, the local private equity firm acquired a 53.49 percent stake in Lotte Insurance from the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate Lotte Group at 373.4 billion won ($319 million).

After clarifying the rumors, Lotte Insurance saw its stocks gain in early trading hours, soaring at one point by as much as 18.45 percent. After erasing gains in later trading hours, the shares closed flat at 1,545 won.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)