Kyobo Life Insurance, one of South Korea's leading life insurers, said Thursday its earnings plunged nearly 30 percent in 2020 due to increased costs.

Net profit came to 382.9 billion won ($340 million) last year, down 29.9 percent from a year earlier, Kyobo Life Insurance said in a filing to the Korea Life Insurance Association.

Kyobo Life Insurance said its net income fell due to a temporary rise in costs to prevent insurance planners from leaving the company amid the coronavirus impact and a row between major shareholders.

The company has been in a legal battle with Affinity Equity Partners, a Hong Kong-based private equity fund, over its failed initial public offering.

In October 2018, Affinity Equity Partners exercised a put option on 6 million shares in Kyobo Life Insurance at a strike price of 409,000 won per share after the insurer failed to deliver on its promise to conduct an IPO by September 2015.

Kyobo Life Insurance Chairman Shin Chang-jae has lodged a complaint with the International Council for Commercial Arbitration over the strike price.

Kyobo Life Insurance, the nation's No. 3 life insurer after Samsung Life Insurance Co. and Hanwha Life Insurance Co., said its assets totaled 115.5 trillion won as of end-December, up 7.6 trillion won from a year earlier. (Yonhap)