The state-run Korea Depository Insurance Corp. (KDIC) said Thursday it plans to sell its 24.8 percent stake in a local life insurer, as part of efforts to retrieve public funds it had injected into some cash-strapped firms during the Asian financial crisis.
The Public Fund Oversight Committee, which oversees the retrieval of public funds, will soon choose the sale manager for Hanwha Life Insurance Co., previously known as Korea Life Insurance Co., the second-largest life insurer here.
The insurer was bailed out by the government after it went under bankruptcy during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
In 2001, Hanwha Group, a South Korean family-owned conglomerate, acquired a 51 percent stake of the firm from the government.
After a series of stake sales, the KDIC has the current amount of shares left to sell off, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the financial regulator.
The KDIC also said it sold off a 3.6 percent stake in state-run electricity provider Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) through a block sale, with the remainder planned to be sold off early next year.
Meanwhile, another state-run debt-clearer, the Korea Asset Management Corp. (KAMCO), is scheduled to sign the sale deal next month with Dongbu Group, who has been tapped as the preferred bidder for Daewoo Electronics Corp., the committee said. KAMCO owns a 57.4 percent stake in the tech company.
The committee has so far retrieved a total of 2.54 trillion won (US$2.28 billion) in taxpayer money through sales by KDIC and KAMCO, it added.
As of end-August, South Korea has recouped 61.6 percent of a total of 168.7 trillion won in public funds that were poured into rescuing bankrupt companies in the wake of the financial crisis, according to the FSC. (Yonhap)