[Courtesy of Anbang Insurance]
A South Korean insurer controlled by China's Anbang Insurance Group has been included in a shortlist of candidates to acquire a stake in Woori Bank, a state-controlled lender bailed out with taxpayer's money during a financial crisis decades ago.
Initially, 18 potential buyers including Tongyang Life Insurance acquired by Anbang last year joined the race, though it's not known how many will be allowed to conduct a due diligence review from Friday. The Financial Services Commission plans to select winners in November.
South Korea's insurance market has been engulfed in a series of mergers and acquisitions. Anbang has actively purchased overseas assets under an aggressive expansionist campaign by its chairman Wu Xiaohui, married to a granddaughter of Deng Xiaoping.
With Anbang's foray into South Korea, other Chinese investors have come to buy domestic financial units.
Woori, the country's fourth-largest lender by asset, was bailed out with an injection of 12.8 trillion won (11.7 billion US dollars) in state money during the 1998-99 Asian financial crisis that forced a sweeping consolidation of financial institutions. As a result, the government held a 51-percent stake in the bank through the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC).
KDIC plans to sell a 30 percent stake worth about 2.07 trillion won in Woori to multiple domestic and international suitors. An investor will be allowed to acquire 4-8 percent.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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