Korea Investment Holdings has been named the preferred bidder for KDB Life Insurance, setting the stage for the financial group to expand into life insurance and reposition itself as a full-service financial conglomerate.
Korea Investment Holdings disclosed Thursday that Korea Development Bank and other parties had notified it of its selection as the preferred bidder in the sale of KDB Life Insurance.
Three companies — Hanwha Life Insurance, Heungkuk Life and Korea Investment Holdings — submitted final bids by the Friday deadline set by Samil PwC, the sale's lead manager. Korea Investment emerged as the winner after a close competition.
The shares on offer are 116.32 million common shares of KDB Life held by Korea Development Bank, representing a stake of approximately 99.75 percent.
Korea Investment Holdings counts securities, asset management, a savings bank and a capital arm among its affiliates, but has had no insurance subsidiary.
The group's business is heavily skewed toward its brokerage operations: Korea Investment & Securities accounted for 90.4 percent of the group's combined net profit of 1.92 trillion won ($1.35 billion) in the first half of this year, contributing 1.73 trillion won on its own.
Korea Investment had set its sights on entering the insurance sector and had been reviewing various acquisition targets that came to market last year, sources said. The group is seen as having placed its bet on KDB Life — a relatively large insurer — to secure an immediate foothold in the business.
The sale of KDB Life has been a long-running saga. Korea Development Bank took over the then-named Kumho Life Insurance in 2010 during the restructuring of Kumho Asiana Group, and the first divestiture attempt began in 2014. Six subsequent efforts all ended in failure, making this the seventh attempt in 12 years.
jiyun@heraldcorp.com
