(South Korea) – Woori Financial, the South Korean government-owned bank group, is looking to raise up to US$1 billion in US equity markets next year and is chasing a strategic investor as part of plans to privatise the group.The plan to find a buyer for the Government’s 20 percent being sold from within Korea’s domestic industrials is causing concern that Korea doesn’t revert to the old cosy relationship between chaebol and bank.
This is particularly sensitive with Woori, as it was established to restructure some of the banks that were re-nationalised following the financial crisis of 1997 and 1998. Earlier this month the Group executed a successful domestic IPO, selling an 11.8 percent stake and raising some Won612 billion (US$504 million).