The Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) plans to discuss the recovery of public funds injected into Seoul Guarantee Insurance Company starting this month.
According to the financial industry on the 13th, the Public Fund Oversight Committee will convene on the 23rd of this month. KDIC is discussing agenda items to be submitted to the committee, and with the lockup on its Seoul Guarantee Insurance Company equity ending on the 14th, there is a high possibility that a sale item will be brought up. KDIC earlier received feedback from a sale manager to proceed with an equity sale this year.
KDIC is the largest shareholder with 83.85% equity in Seoul Guarantee Insurance Company. At the time of the company's initial public offering (IPO) last year, it imposed a one-year lockup period, and disposal will be possible starting next week. A lockup is a system that requires certain shares to be held for a set period.
Seoul Guarantee Insurance Company was launched in 1998 by merging Daehan Guarantee Insurance and Korea Guarantee Insurance, which were insolvent financial institutions during the foreign exchange crisis. The Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) injected a total of 10.25 trillion won in public funds over about two years starting in 1999 to support the normalization of Seoul Guarantee Insurance Company's management and has yet to recover about 5.09 trillion won.
KDIC is carrying out a plan to gradually reduce its equity stake. The year before last, it submitted to the Financial Services Commission a plan to first sell up to 33.85% of its holdings and then reduce the stake in stages. KDIC said it will take a cautious approach, monitoring market conditions to avoid controversy over selling public assets at fire-sale prices.
Seoul Guarantee listed last year at an offer price of 26,000 won and is now trading in the 56,000-won range, more than double.