[영문] Lone Star Fund collects 1.9t won from KEB



Lone Star Fund gains approximately 690 billion won as a dividend for 3 years and collects more than 1.9 trillion won from KEB.

Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) decided to carry out payment of a dividend for 3 consecutive years.

U.S. private equity firm Lone Star Fund, which is a principal stakeholder of KEB, will gain approximately 690 billion won as a dividend for 3 years and collect more than 1.9 trillion won including stake proceeds from sale, which is 87.3% of initial investment before taxes.

On the 4th, KEB announced to settle an account as 125 won per share and pay a dividend.

The total dividend of KEB recorded 80.6 billion won, which was 10% of net income last year. After paying a dividend, capital adequacy ratio and capital basic ratio (Tier 1) of Bank for International Settlements (BIS) fell to 11.79% and 8.75%, respectively, based on Basel II.

Lone Star Fund holding 51.02% of KEB’s stakes will gather about 41.1 billion won before taxes and get 688.2 billion won increased from the dividend having accumulated 3 years ago.

Adding 1.1927 trillion won as proceeds from sale, 13.6% of KEB’s stakes, as of June in 2007, KEB will get back 1.8809 trillion won in total, which is 87.3% of the initial investment 2.1548 trillion won.

KEB released that its net income of last year was 801.3 billion won, which declined by 159.6 billion won (16.6%) compared with the previous year. Net interest margin (NIM) expressing profitability was 2.9% as accumulated, showing a decrease of 0.33%p from the previous year.

As the latest global economic downturn has been spreading across all industries, KEB’s non performing loan (NPL) increased to 1.06%, and its allowance for bad debts gained 407 billion won.

With this as a momentum, KEB reserved additional 51 billion won due to workout conducted by construction and shipping companies.

KEB President & CEO Richard F. Wacker said, “Considering proper capitals and a plan for future growth, we are keeping a policy to pay a dividend as 40~50% of net income to stockholders. This time, we decided our net income to the lowest 10%.”

By Jung Eunsun

정은선 기자 stop1020@ajnews.co.kr
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