[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] Hana Financial Group, which was selected as the preferred bidder for the acquisition of KDB Life Insurance, finally decided to give up the acquisition after long consideration.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 19th, Hana Financial Group internally confirmed its plan to give up acquiring KDB Life Insurance and delivered the information to the Korea Development Bank. Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo reportedly met with KDB Chairman Kang Seok-hoon at a recent annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Morocco and expressed his intention to give up the acquisition first.

Earlier in November last year, KDB selected Samil Accounting Corporation as the organizer and announced its bid before selling KDB Life Insurance. Hana Financial Group participated in the bidding alone and was selected as the preferred bidder for the acquisition in July and conducted due diligence for the past two months.

The Korea Development Bank acquired KRW 216 billion of new capital securities issued by KDB Life Insurance in May this year in parallel with the sale of KDB Life Insurance to improve its financial structure, and participated in KDB Life Insurance's paid-in capital increase worth KRW 142.7 billion on the 18th of last month. In the meantime, the company has maintained its position to support the acquisition as much as possible by lowering the price of KDB Life Insurance's old shares (92.73%) to 100 billion won from the previous 200 billion won.

However, KDB Life Insurance's new payment capacity ratio (K-ICS· KICS) was very low at 47.7% as of the first quarter, and the new injection of at least 500 billion won to strengthen future financial soundness was a burden on Hana Financial Group.

 

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