[Aju News DB]
South Korea's leading state lender opened a competitive bid Monday to sell an 85 percent stake in KDB Life Insurance, two years after it failed to sell the insurer which was bailed out with state money in 2010.
Korea Development Bank (KDB) said it would collect letters of intent from potential buyers by October 13. The bank had tried to sell the insurance company in 2014 but negotiations failed due to differences in price and other terms.
In 2010, KDB raised a fund of 650 billion won (582 million US dollars) and teamed up with Consus Asset Management Co. to form special purpose company KDB Consus Value Limited Liability Co. and private equity fund KDB Consus Value PEF to buy the insurer. The fund expires in February next year.
The state lender is in need of liquidity to finance corporate restructuring.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
