Hana’s KEB takeover set to shape up soon

Hana Financial Group Inc., South Korea’s No. 4 banking group, will be able to know whether it can buy Korea Exchange Bank as early as next month, when a Seoul court rules on a pending court case that has stalled the acquisition, sources said Sunday.

Under a 4.41 trillion won ($4.07 billion) deal with U.S. private Lone Star Funds, Hana Financial had agreed to buy a 51.02 percent stake in KEB, the country’s fifth-largest lender.

The sale, however, has been in an impasse since the country’s financial regulator indefinitely deferred to permit the deal, citing a lawsuit over Lone Star’s alleged wrongdoing in its 2003 purchase of a credit card unit affiliated with KEB.

According to industry sources, the Seoul High Court is scheduled to hold a final trial on the Lone Star-KEB case on Sept.

8. Given the fact that it takes a court from two weeks to one month to announce its decision, the sources said Hana Financial will know if Lone Star was an eligible buyer of KEB as early as the end of September.

Upon the court order, it is largely expected that the financial regulator will look into Lone Star’s eligibility, a move that is set to accelerate Hana Financial’s stalled purchase of the No. 5 lender.

If the court pronounces Lone Star as an ineligible stakeholder, the financial watchdog can order the U.S. buyout fund to sell out 47 percent of its 51.02 percent stake within six months. The shares could be transferred to Hana Financial in the process, given the fact there is no designated rule on the means of disposal.

It is largely expected that the Lone Star official engaged in the case will be pronounced guilty, allowing Hana Financial a bigger chance to acquire KEB. However, the deal could again hit a snag if the Lone Star official does not come to the Sept. 8 trial or requests a constitutional review on the court decision.

Last month, Hana Financial and Lone Star agreed to extend their deal on the KEB stake. The two sides agreed to extend the deal by six months to Nov. 30 and lower the price to 4.41 trillion won from 4.96 trillion won. The extended deal will remain valid past the deadline unless one party cancels it, they said in a statement.

(Yonhap News)