S. Korea to Sell Controlling Stake in Woori Next Year

The South Korean government will sell its controlling stake in Woori Finance Holdings next year in an effort to speed up the sale of state-owned financial firms, the head of the financial regulator said Wednesday.

Seoul is also seeking to sell Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) as part of its drive to ease regulations and raise competitiveness in the financial sector.

The South Korean government injected 12.1 trillion won ($11.8 billion) into Woori Finance to save it from near-bankruptcy following the financial meltdown that hit the country in late 1997. The government owns a 72.97 percent stake in Woori Finance.

"The government plans to sell a 23 percent stake in Woori Finance this year and unload its controlling stake in the country's No. 1 financial services firm from 2009," Yonhap News quoted Jun Kwang-woo, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, as saying at a forum in Seoul.

Jun told the forum that the government will also seek to sell part of its 67 percent interest in IBK between 2008 and 2010.

Lee Pal-seung, new chairman of Woori Finance, told reporters in late May that he will make efforts to accelerate the privatization of the group.