ID :
185219
Mon, 05/30/2011 - 06:50
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/185219
The shortlink copeid
S. Korea moves to relax rules to sell Woori Finance
SEOUL, May 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's financial regulator said Monday that it is pushing for a regulatory revision to allow financial holding companies to buy a controlling stake in state-owned Woori Finance Holdings Co. as it restarted the process to privatize the country's second-largest financial group.
The Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., the deposit insurance agency holding the 56.97 percent interest in Woori Finance, is accepting letters of intent to buy the government stake by June 29 and plans to select the preferred bidder by September.
The sale comes after the government's efforts to privatize the stake fell short of drawing enough investor interest in November last year due mainly to high costs and tough requirements.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said a revision to the related decree would allow local bank holding firms to buy only a 50 percent stake in a bank holding firm with a government stake in order to consolidate the target company. Currently, a bank holding firm is required to purchase the entire stake.
The revised rule is likely to be effective for five years after coming into force, the FSC said.
The regulator plans to submit the revision at the FSC's regular decision-making meeting next month in order to make it effective during July or August, it noted.
The revision is expected to pave the way for the country's big financial holding firms, like government-owned KDB Financial Group Inc. or KB Financial Group Inc., to join the race to purchase the second-biggest financial holding firm by assets.
"Currently, (Woori Finance) is open both to possibilities of a merger or an acquisition," an official at the public fund watchdog Public Fund Oversight Committee said.
The Woori Finance sale was one of President Lee Myung-bak's pledges during his election campaign, which included promises to privatize Woori Finance and other state-owned firms that were rescued from bankruptcies with taxpayers' money in the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
The government pumped 12.8 trillion won (US$11.9 billion) in taxpayers' money into financial firms that later merged into Woori Finance, and recovered 5.4 trillion won as of the end of 2010.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)
The Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., the deposit insurance agency holding the 56.97 percent interest in Woori Finance, is accepting letters of intent to buy the government stake by June 29 and plans to select the preferred bidder by September.
The sale comes after the government's efforts to privatize the stake fell short of drawing enough investor interest in November last year due mainly to high costs and tough requirements.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said a revision to the related decree would allow local bank holding firms to buy only a 50 percent stake in a bank holding firm with a government stake in order to consolidate the target company. Currently, a bank holding firm is required to purchase the entire stake.
The revised rule is likely to be effective for five years after coming into force, the FSC said.
The regulator plans to submit the revision at the FSC's regular decision-making meeting next month in order to make it effective during July or August, it noted.
The revision is expected to pave the way for the country's big financial holding firms, like government-owned KDB Financial Group Inc. or KB Financial Group Inc., to join the race to purchase the second-biggest financial holding firm by assets.
"Currently, (Woori Finance) is open both to possibilities of a merger or an acquisition," an official at the public fund watchdog Public Fund Oversight Committee said.
The Woori Finance sale was one of President Lee Myung-bak's pledges during his election campaign, which included promises to privatize Woori Finance and other state-owned firms that were rescued from bankruptcies with taxpayers' money in the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
The government pumped 12.8 trillion won (US$11.9 billion) in taxpayers' money into financial firms that later merged into Woori Finance, and recovered 5.4 trillion won as of the end of 2010.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)
