US fund sells stake in Korean Exchange Bank

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2007

SEOUL (AFP) — US private fund Lone Star, bogged down in legal wrangling with the government, has sold a 13.6-percent stake in Korea Exchange Bank, South Korea's fifth-largest lender, for some 1.3 billion dollars, market sources and officials said Friday.

The stake sale will reduce the Dallas-based fund's holding in KEB to 51.02 percent, they said.

Lone Star refused to comment but bankers and brokerage dealers close to Credit Suisse, organiser of the sale, confirmed the divestment.

"Lone Star divested a 13.6 percent stake in KEB -- more than initially planned due to strong demand -- for 1.19 trillion won (1.28 billion dollars)," one brokerage dealer, close to Credit Suisse, told AFP.

Buyers included South Korea's Hana Financial Group and the National...