[Courtesy of Hanwha Life Insurance]
The financial arm of South Korea's Hanwha Group on Thursday became the first to apply for a stake in Woori Bank, a state-controlled lender which has been bailed out with taxpayer's money during a financial crisis decades ago.
Hanwha Life Insurance said in a regulatory filing that it jumped into the race to grab an unspecified stake in Woori, a day before the lender starts receiving letters of intent from bidders.
Hanwha Life is South Korea's second-largest life insurer after Samsung Life Insurance Co., with its accumulated total assets estimated at about 100 trillion won (906 billion US dollars). The insurer has aggressively pushed for acquisitions and mergers to increase its influence at home.
Woori, the country's fourth-largest lender by asset, was bailed out with an injection of 12.8 trillion won in state money during the 1998-99 Asian financial crisis that forced a sweeping consolidation of South Korean financial institutions. As a result, the government held a 51-percent stake in the bank through the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC). So far, some 8.2 trillion won has been retrieved.
KDIC plans to sell a 30 percent stake in Woori to multiple domestic and international suitors. The stake is worth about 2.07 trillion won. An investor will be allowed to acquire 4-8 percent. The Financial Services Commission plans to select winners in November.
Woori's second-quarter net profit soared 35.8 percent on-year to 307 billion won as the lender improved its financial health by reducing non-performing assets.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
