This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:31 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2025.
As Hillhouse Investment Management Ltd. was selected as the preferred bidder for the acquisition of IGIS Asset Management, the No. 1 real estate specialist manager in Korea, Heungkuk Life, which competed with Hillhouse until the last minute in the main bid, is said to be reviewing filing a criminal complaint with prosecutors against the sell-side advisors.
Heungkuk Life argues that the process by which the sell-side advisor selected Hillhouse as the preferred bidder for IGIS Asset Management was unfair and that this conduct may constitute the crime of obstruction of bidding under the Criminal Act. Heungkuk Life also said it will examine whether the advisor violated the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act. The intent is to pursue both civil and criminal liability.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry and according to legal sources on the 9th, Heungkuk Life is currently reviewing filing a criminal complaint against Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, the sell-side advisors for IGIS Asset Management.
Earlier in the morning, Heungkuk Life of Taekwang Group issued a statement claiming that the sell-side advisor deceived the company and conducted an unfair auction.
Heungkuk Life said, "We trusted the advisor's promise ahead of the main bid that it would not conduct a 'progressive deal (auction-style bidding),' and therefore submitted the highest price in the main bid," adding, "However, the advisor delayed announcing the preferred bidder, asked Hillhouse for a price above the top bid, and 27 days after the main bid selected Hillhouse as the preferred bidder."
According to the industry, in the preliminary bid Heungkuk Life wrote a price in the high 800 billion won range, while Hanwha Life and Hillhouse wrote 900 billion won to 1 trillion won. In the subsequent main bid, Heungkuk Life submitted the highest price among the three, over 1 trillion won, but the advisor is said to have proposed a progressive deal to Hillhouse behind the scenes, leading Hillhouse to raise its bid to 1.1 trillion won, and the preferred bidder status ultimately went to Hillhouse, according to Heungkuk Life. Heungkuk Life claims that in the process the advisor likely leaked Heungkuk Life's bid to Hillhouse.
A Taekwang Group official said, "We submitted a high price from the start because we trusted the advisor's promise that there would be no progressive deal," adding, "If we had known it would switch to a progressive deal, we would have first submitted a fair value and then raised it."
According to an industry official well-versed in Heungkuk Life's internal circumstances, if the sell-side advisor indeed deceived Heungkuk Life and conducted a progressive deal behind the scenes, this could violate the Criminal Act.
Article 315 of the current Criminal Act stipulates, "A person who impairs the fairness of an auction or bid by deception, force, or other methods shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years or a fine of not more than 7 million won." Here, "deception" means trickery or falsehood. Legal sources interpret the provision as applying not only to auctions and bids by public enterprises but also to those by private enterprises.
Heungkuk Life is said to be reviewing a plan to file a criminal complaint against the advisor. If Heungkuk Life is viewed as the "victim," a complaint, not an accusation by a third party, is possible.
The company is also reviewing whether the advisor's lying violates the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act under civil law. The plan is to take legal action as soon as the review is complete.
In response, the sell-side advisors are said to be maintaining the position that they never conducted a progressive deal and that the claim they gave Hillhouse favorable treatment is a unilateral assertion by Heungkuk Life.