KDB pushed to sell its stakes in rescued firms, including Daewoo Shipbuilding
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has told state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) to sell its stakes in companies purchased through debt-for-equity swaps, including Daewoo Shipbuilding &amp; Marine Engineering Co. KDB has 116 companies under its wing but it has recently come under fire for its lack of checks on Daewoo Shipbuilding, which suffered a record loss of KRW 3tn ($2.5bn) in 2Q2015. The bank is now struggling to cope with massive loans due to a slump in the manufacturing industry. The FSC also said last month that it would sell KDB Daewoo Securities with total assets as of 1Q 2015 reaching KRW 4.2tn ($3.5bn).
The state-run Korea Development Bank announced the appointment of PwC Korea and Credit Suisse as the advisers for selling its controlling stake in KDB Daewoo Securities, KDB Asset Management and KDB Capital.PwC Korea will also be acting as accounting adviser for the deal, while Lee&Ko will take charge of the legal consultation.The value of the divestment is expected to exceed 3 trillion won ($2.5 billion), a large part of which is attributable to KDB Daewoo Securities.The brokerage house achieved net profit of 229.4 billion won during the first half of the year, beating market leaders NH Investment & Securities and Samsung Securities.By Bae Hyun-jung ( tellme@heraldcorp.com