BNP Paribas sells Shinhan Group stakes
Who will become No. 2 shareholder in the group?
By Nam Hyun-woo
French financial giant BNP Paribas sold its 1.8 percent stake in Shinhan Financial Group, the company said Friday, sparking speculation on who will become the No. 2 shareholder of Korea’s largest financial group by net profit.
According to a BNP Paribas official, the firm sold 8.5 million Shinhan shares it has through off-the-hour trading, Jan. 4. With the sale, its stake in Shinhan decreased from 5.35 percent to 3.55 percent.
Though BNP Paribas did not disclose the value of the sale, market watchers anticipate the deal could be worth more than $317 million.
The question is to whom the French firm sold its shares. The BNP Paribas official said the deal was a “private placement,” in which it is not obliged to give details.
Shinhan also said it is yet to find what kind of changes were made in its equity structure, saying “it will be available to affirm a change at the end of this month, should there is a new major shareholder whose stake in the group surpasses 5 percent.”
Rumors are growing that U.S. investment management company BlackRock purchased the stake from BNP Paribas.
As of October, BlackRock held a 5.13 percent stake in Shinhan. With the purchase, BlackRock’s stake will likely outpace others, making it the second largest shareholder, following the National Pension Service, which as of September has 9.25 percent. BNP Paribas may stand at No. 4
To the questions that the French firm is seeking an exodus from Korea, the official denied it, adding that it has been maintaining a “strategic partnership” with Shinhan since 2001.
The partnership reportedly prohibits BNP Paribas from having a lower than 3.5 percent share in Shinhan.
“The deal was about managing the group’s balance sheet,” the official said. “We still have our outside director at Shinhan, who is a country head in Japan, and the deal was made to enhance our partnership,” she said.
A Shinhan official also said the BNP Paribas’ move “was about collecting profits coming from the rise of Shinhan stocks.”