SKorea's Woori buys 51.5 pct stake in Hanmi Capital for 271.1 bln won -UPDATE |
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Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:19
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SEOUL (Thomson Financial) - Woori Finance Holdings, South Korea's second-largest financial services company by asset size, said Friday it has agreed to buy a 51.5 percent stake in Hanmi Capital from a wholly-owned unit of private equity group MBK Partners for 271.1 billion won.The price tag was slightly above market expectations of 250 billion won.Hanmi Capital is a mid-sized local credit and finance company, which also leases imported cars and medical equipment.Woori said the stake purchase will help diversify its revenue sources, heavily dependant on banking operations.'The purchase was made to diversify our business portfolio by strengthening non-banking operations,' a Woori official said.Woori also said it aims to transform Hanmi Capital into the industry's leading company within five years by creating synergies with its other affiliates.Hanmi earlier announced that it is aiming to grow its assets to one trillion won by 2008 from 871.6 billion won at the end of June. In the second quarter, it posted a net profit of 7.9 billion won.MBK Partners is a buyout group formed in 2005 by five former Carlyle executives led by Michael Kim, who was previously Carlyle Asia chairman. The fund bought the Hanmi Capital stake in 2006 from Citigroup Inc's Korean unit for 62.6 billion won.Woori today finished up 200 won or 1.0 percent at 21,350 won, while Hanmi Capital was down 200 won or 1.2 percent at 16,650 won. The mainboard KOSPI was up 31.54 points or 1.7 percent at 1,873.24.The announcement was made after the market closed.( 1 US dollar = 938.30 won )saeromi.shin@thomson.com-sss/clCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.
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SKorean shares close lower but off lows as retail investors support - UPDATE 