Hanwha chairman Kim sells stake in Hanwha Securities

Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn sold his entire holdings of Hanwha Securities, the brokerage said in a filing to the Korea Exchange on Friday.

Kim held about 323,000 shares in the securities house, or 0.39 percent.

Hanwha Securities said that Kim’s sale was to “simplify the stake ownership” and its affiliate Hanwha Time World took over Kim’s entire stake in order not to have an impact on the market.

The stake sale came after Hanwha Group went through a turbulent period concerning Kim and four other executives who had been prosecuted for corporate embezzlement.

By Yang Sung-jin (insight@heraldcorp.com)