À̹ÌÁö È®´ë State-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC) sold 14,445,000 shares in Woori Financial Group in block trade before the market opened on Friday for 149.3 billion won ($133.6 million) in line with the government`s privatization scheme on the financial group whose mainstay bank had been bailed out with tax funds.
The sale tantamount to a 2 percent stake brings down government ownership in the holding company from 17.25 percent, valued at 1.3 trillion won on Thursday closing price, the state agency said in a press statement Friday.
Under the timetable, KDIC plans to fully exit from Woori by 2022. The stake sale plan, announced in June 2019, will be executed in two to three stages, with up to 10 percent stake sold per round.
Woori received 12.8 trillion won in public funds after merger with five troubled financial in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis. KDIC had then acquired 100 percent of Woori.
Woori started anew as a holding company with Woori Bank as its mainstay in 2019.
KDIC has gradually reduced its ownership. In 2017, the state agency sold a 27.56 percent stake to seven institutional investors, including IMM Private Equity and Korea Investment & Securities Co. As of May 2019, the government had recouped 11.1 trillion won, or 87.3 percent, of its bailout money.
On Friday, shares of Woori Financial Holdings lost 2.8 percent and closed at 10,300 won.
By Cho Jeehyun
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]