This article was published on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:11 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2025.
The Kyobo Life Insurance put option dispute shows no sign of ending. Shin Chang-jae, chairman of Kyobo Life Insurance, has not submitted a valuation report for the Kyobo Life Insurance put option, putting him at odds with the financial investors (FI). Because the rift between the two sides runs deep, analysts predict the dispute will continue even after the ruling.
On the 19th, investment banking (IB) industry sources said a second hearing on approval and enforcement of the arbitration award was held the previous day at the Seoul High Court. With that hearing, the appeal-stage questioning has concluded. Because the case is filed electronically, a few additional documents will be exchanged and a date for the verdict is expected to be set soon.
Legal representatives for Kyobo Life Insurance FIs IMM PE and EQT Partners — law firms BAE, KIM & LEE LLC and Haegwang, and KAHIL — argued that Chairman Shin failed to comply with a decision already issued by the arbitration panel when appointing EY Hanyoung as the valuation agency.
In December last year, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) issued an arbitration award ordering Chairman Shin to select a valuation agency within 30 days to determine the exercise price for the FI's repurchase put option. It added that if he failed to comply, a coercive fine of $200,000 per day (about 279 million won) would be imposed.
Chairman Shin signed a contract in January with EY Hanyoung to value the Kyobo Life Insurance put option exercise price but terminated it two months later because EY Hanyoung signed a designated auditor contract with Kyobo Life Insurance. In the financial sector, designated auditors typically do not take on other contracts with the same company due to conflicts of interest. Kyobo Life Insurance must select a stock valuation agency but has not done so.
The two sides are also at odds over how to calculate the put option exercise price. Chairman Shin's camp says the valuation was set excessively and claims the previous valuation by Anjin Accounting Corporation is invalid. The FIs counter that the valuation was fair and say Chairman Shin must appoint a new valuation agency according to the arbitration panel's ruling and present the put option price.
Earlier this year, Chairman Shin resolved a separate dispute with other FIs, Affirma Capital and Affinity Partners–Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), by repurchasing the asset manager stakes at 198,000 won and 234,000 won per share, respectively. The put option agreements with IMM PE and EQT Partners remain unresolved. IMM PE and EQT each hold a 5.23% stake in Kyobo Life Insurance, totaling 10.46%. The two fund managers are demanding at least 310,000 won per share.
Industry sources say the deep rift between the two fund managers and Chairman Shin means it will take considerable time for the matter to be settled. An IB industry official said, "The difference between the cases that have already been resolved and the remaining FIs is whether the decision-makers at the time of the Kyobo Life Insurance investment are still in place," adding, "When leadership changed since the investment, parties accepted losses to close the fund, but the situations for IMM and EQT are different."
Another IB industry source said, "When Kyobo Life Insurance reported Deloitte Anjin to prosecutors in 2020 on charges of violating the Certified Public Accountant Act, many FI officials, including those from Anjin, had repeated encounters with prosecutors," and added, "Because they remember the hardship they went through then, FIs are unlikely to move solely at Kyobo Life Insurance's behest even if it costs them losses." He added, "In particular, IMM, which received money from the National Pension Service during fundraising, will find it even harder to back down."
Kyobo Life Insurance appears likely to try to persuade the remaining FIs as much as possible to remove uncertainty in the process of converting to a holding company. The financial authorities consider transparency and stability of governance to be key evaluation criteria in approving holding company conversions. Kyobo Life Insurance said in April that it would acquire a 50%+1 share stake in SBI Savings Bank by Oct. 2026 and pursue conversion to a financial holding company based on that acquisition.
The Kyobo Life Insurance put option dispute dates back to 2012. The FIs (Affinity, GIC, IMM PE, EQT) purchased a 24% stake in Kyobo Life Insurance from Daewoo International at 245,000 won per share and entered into a shareholders' agreement with Chairman Shin. The agreement provided that if Kyobo Life Insurance's initial public offering (IPO) did not occur by the end of September 2015, the FIs could exercise put options to sell their stakes to Shin's side.
However, Kyobo Life Insurance's IPO failed, and when Chairman Shin refused to execute the put option at 410,000 won per share in 2018, the investors continued international arbitration against him. Affirma Capital acquired its stake in Kyobo Life Insurance in 2007 at 185,000 won per share.