K bank to issue 1.25 trillion won in new shares

K bank, the first online bank to open in Korea, is issuing 1.25 trillion won ($1.12 billion) in new stock.

K bank on Wednesday voted in favor of raising 1.25 trillion won in new stock in a board meeting held at its headquarters in central Seoul.

K bank launched in 2017 with 250 billion won in capital. It has since issued new shares eight times, with the latest approval being the ninth.

K bank is not publicly traded.

The issuing price of the new stock is 6,500 won.

K bank plans to strengthen its IT infrastructure and expand its supply of loans to people with medium or low credit ratings. It further plans to develop new financial products with KT, a major shareholder of BC Card that owns 34 percent of K bank.

Of the total stocks issued, 524.9 billion won will be designated to existing shareholders while the remaining 725 billion won will be bought by new investors through third-party allocation.

The third party allocated to K bank’s new shares include MBK Partners, a private equity firm and the largest shareholder of Homeplus, investment firm Bain Capital and Com2uS, a gaming publisher.

The scheduled date for issuing the new stocks is June 29.

After the new shares are allocated, K bank’s total capital will more than double its value to 2.15 trillion won from 901.7 billion won.

“This major capital expansion is a result of K bank’s capacity for innovation and [generating] future growth,” said K bank CEO Suh Ho-sung, vowing to grow into a financial platform optimized in the digital business environment.

The number of K bank users as of April was 5.37 million.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]