Korea resumes Woori Bank sale process

South Korea announced another attempt Monday to privatize Woori Bank, a leading lender in the country, saying the possibility of a successful sale is "higher than any other time."

The government has agreed to sell off 30 percent of its stake in the bank to several different buyers by the end of this year, according to the Financial Services Commission.

"It's judged that potential demand for investment has been confirmed on a level (enough) to push for the sale," FSC Chairman Yim Jong-yong said at a related committee meeting.

He cited the privatization of Woori Bank as "the biggest pending issue in South Korea's financial industry and the largest task for the financial authorities."

The government owns a 51-percent stake in the bank through the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., a legacy of the 1998-99 Asian financial crisis.

At that time, it poured 12.8 trillion won ($11.3 billion) in bailout funds into Woori. It has so far retrieved 8.2 trillion won, or 64.9 percent, of the taxpayers' money.

The FSC said it aims to sell 30 percent of its stake in Woori via a bidding process to kick off later this week. A related public notice will be issued on Wednesday.

An investor will be restricted to bid for 4-8 percent of the bank's stake in what the FSC described as a "oligopolistic stockholder" manner.

That's a "realistic way" to succeed in privatizing the bank this time after four previous failed attempts, most recently in 2014, it added. (Yonhap)