By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter

Samsung Life Insurance, the nation’s top life insurer, plans to list its shares on the Seoul bourse next year in a bid to raise working capital, the company said Monday.
The life insurer has started preparations to sell its stocks to the public, it said.

“We decided to list our shares to increase transparency and raise capital to become a leading global life insurer," an official of the company said. “We hope to be prepared for global crises with this listing.”

However, critics say that Samsung Group wants to pay the debts of Samsung Motors by selling stocks in the insurance company.

Samsung Group provided 3.5 million stocks, owned by former Chairman Lee Kun-hee, at 700,000 won per share, to creditors as a warrant.

Samsung Group had agreed with creditors that it would pay the debts by listing Samsung Life Insurance by the end of 2000.

However, the insurance company has yet to be listed, so the creditors filed a lawsuit against Lee and Samsung subsidiaries to pay 4.7 trillion won in 2005. The court ordered Samsung to pay 2.3 trillion won by selling stocks in the insurer. Samsung Group appealed, and the trial remains in progress.

Samsung Life’s bid to tap into the equity market comes on the heels of a series of life insurers going public.

Mid-size life insurer Tong Yang Life Insurance became the first publicly-traded life insurer after raising 182.8 billion won, or $158.5 million, in early October in an initial public offering (IPO).

Korea Life Insurance said earlier this month it had selected several brokerages to arrange the company’s IPO while Mirae Asset Life Insurance noted in early November it had picked two securities firms as preferred IPO managers.

The two leading life insurers are expected to list their shares next year.

shosta@koreatimes.co.kr