Woori accelerates holding firm plan
By Nam Hyun-woo
Woori Bank’s plan to transform into a holding firm is picking up momentum with it selecting advisers for legal and accounting issues.
According to the Seoul-based lender Friday, it appointed Kim & Chang and Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers as its consultants to introduce a holding firm system.
“The two advisers will study the feasibility of our transformation into a holding company format,” a Woori official said.
The move came after the Feb. 28 meeting between Woori Bank’s officials and outside directors, who oversee the bank’s management. They are newly appointed by new shareholders, who bought 4 percent-plus stakes in the bank previously owned by the government.
According to sources, the bank has conducted its own feasibility study to explain the results to outside directors.
“What is clear is that outside directors were on the same page as Woori regarding the holding firm scheme,” an outside director of Woori told The Korea Times. “We have carried out a reality check on the idea to learn its potential benefits.”
According to him, the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) holds “the key” in the decision making process, because the government-run deposit insurer still has the largest 21.4 percent stake in the bank, though it sold its 29.7 percent stake to seven entities in 4 to 6 percent lots last year.
The KDIC has to sell its shares at 15,000 won at least, in order to fully retrieve taxpayers’ money poured into the bank. Woori was trading at 13,400 won as of 3 p.m. Friday.
Given that a company’s transformation into a holding firm generally brings a rise in its stock price, observers speculate that the KDIC has no reason to oppose the plan.
With the plan picking up speed, some anticipated that the bank may apply for the change to the financial regulator as early as next month, but the bank stressed that it will not hurry.
“The board meeting held today (Friday) was about setting an agenda for a March 24 general shareholders’ meeting and it did not include the issue of the holding firm plan, because it is not concrete now,” the Woori official said.
According to the official, the bank wants to wrap up the restructuring by the end of this year. After finishing internal talks, it will make an application for preliminary approval by the Financial Services Commission (FSC). It will take up to 60 days for the FSC to review it. After that, the bank is supposed to apply for final approval, which the regulator will take up to 30 days for review.