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KB Financial Group eyes 1 tln won share sale
SEOUL, July 10 (Yonhap) -- KB Financial Group Inc. said Friday it has decided to raise around 1 trillion won (US$780 million) in a new share offering in a bid to boost its capital and prepare for future growth.
South Korea's No. 3 financial services company plans to issue 30 million common shares worth 984 billion won, or 8.4 percent of outstanding stock, in late August, said the group with top lender Kookmin Bank under its wing.
The offering price will be finalized on Aug. 21. it said. KB Financial Group closed 2.74 percent up at 46,950 won on the Seoul bourse on Friday.
The planned share sale is expected to raise the group's capital adequacy ratio by 0.52 percentage point to 12.66 percent, the group said.
The group said it plans to use the proceeds to bolster its non-banking business lines. Group President Hwang Young-key has said that the company will seek to buy non-banking businesses, including an insurer or a brokerage house.
Market watchers have speculated the share sale is aimed at securing ammunition to purchase Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), currently controlled by Lone Star Funds.
Kookmin Bank has continued to express interest in buying KEB even after Lone Star scrapped a deal to sell its stakes to Kookmin Bank in November 2006 due to legal complications related to its purchase of KEB in 2003.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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