Heungkuk Life said on the 11th that it filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against five people, including a person surnamed Son, the largest shareholder of IGIS Asset Management; a person surnamed Kim, a shareholders' representative; and a person surnamed Kim, head of Morgan Stanley's Korea investment bank (IB) institutional sector, alleging obstruction of a fair bid and fraudulent unfair transaction under the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act.
Son is the largest shareholder, holding 12.4% of IGIS Asset Management. Kim is Son's daughter, and, authorized by IGIS shareholders, led the stock sale as a shareholders' representative. Kim, an executive at Morgan Stanley, handled the practical affairs of this bid.
Heungkuk Life claimed that Son and others feigned, on the surface, that they would not conduct a competitive bid (progressive deal), but in fact colluded to maximize the bid price through a progressive deal.
Heungkuk Life offered 1.5 trillion won in the main bid on the 11th, the highest price. Hillhouse Investment Management Ltd. and Hanwha Life each proposed prices in the 900 billion won range. However, Heungkuk Life said Morgan Stanley conveyed the bid price to Hillhouse and suggested that if it offered a higher price, it would be selected as the preferred negotiating partner.
Heungkuk Life said, "We were deprived of the fair status that should have been guaranteed in this bid and lost a legitimate opportunity to be selected as the preferred negotiating partner," adding, "This clearly constitutes bid-rigging that seriously undermined the fairness of the bidding through deception or other methods."