KB Financial, Lotte, 3 others tender offers to buy LIG Insurance

Major banking group KB Financial Group Inc., retail giant Lotte Group, and three others offered their bids to buy LIG Insurance Co., a local non-life insurer which has been on the selling block since late last year, industry sources said Monday.

LIG Group, a mid-sized conglomerate, has put up some 21 percent in the country's No. 5 non-life insurer to secure cash to compensate retail investors for losses incurred from its 2011 financial fraud scandal.

The price tag for LIG Insurance ranges from 400 billion won ($392 million) to 600 billion won, but may be further lowered depending on negotiations, the sources said.

Local banking and other conglomerates are turning to non-banking businesses in a bid to diversify their portfolios.

 LIG Group and Goldman Sachs, lead manager of the sale, are planning to pick a preferred bidder in the coming weeks and sign a deal by early July. (Yonhap)