KDB plans IPO of 10% of its shares in November

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KDB plans IPO of 10% of its shares in November

State-owned KDB Financial Group plans to apply as early as August for an initial public offering (IPO) worth roughly 2 trillion won ($1.73 billion), a senior executive said yesterday.

Underscoring the IPO, planned for November, is an effort to comply with local law passed in 2009 that mandated the government’s first stake sale to begin before May 2014, officials said Korea’s largest state-owned financial group would try its best to get parliamentary approval.

In a press conference yesterday, KDB Financial Group Vice President Chu Woo-sik outlined a tight schedule for the holding company’s IPO.

“We plan to offer about a 10 percent stake,” said Chu, who was hired last month to lead the IPO. “The stake might be slightly larger if market conditions are good [in November]. The sale would be worth roughly 2 trillion won even with just the 10 percent, considering that KDB’s paid-in capital was between 19 and 20 trillion won [as of December].”

KDB Financial plans to seek approval for an IPO from local bourse operator Korea Exchange by August or September, and wrap up investor presentations and valuations by October or November.

Chu attempted to drum up support for the IPO.

In the runup to the April general elections, opposition parties had pledged to “stop the privatization process.”

Although the ruling Saenuri Party retained its majority in the National Assembly, analysts said that opposition parties could still try to block the sale, as the Democratic United Party and Unified Progressive Party occupy a combined 140 seats out of 300.

The government holds a 9.74 percent stake in KDB Financial; state-run financier Korea Finance Corp. owns the rest.
By Lee Jung-yoon [joyce@joongang.co.kr]

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