[Yonhap News Photo]
The seven will be new co-owners of Woori Bank as part of government efforts to privatize the state-funded lender, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said, vowing to stay away from management of Woori and sell the remaining stake held by the government.
Tongyang Life Insurance acquired by Anbang last year, Hanwha Life, Eugene Asset Management, Korea Investment & Securities and Kiwoom Securities Co. will each control four percent of Woori while IMM Private Equity and Mirae Asset Global Investment will take over 6 percent and 3.7 percent respectively.
"Woori's management will be run by multiple shareholders from the private sectors in an autonomous, commercial, transparent way," FSC Chairman Yim Jong-yong said.
Woori was bailed out with 12.8 trillion won (10.99 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.
The stake sale completed Sunday will reduce the government's stake in Woori to 21.4 percent.
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.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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