SKorean court clears Lone Star of stock manipulation

AFP, June, 2008

SEOUL (AFP) — A South Korean appeals court Tuesday found US buyout fund Lone Star not guilty of rigging shares following its purchase of a local bank in 2003, and cancelled fines totalling almost 50 million dollars.

The ruling could help clear the way for global giant HSBC to buy the Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) from Lone Star in a six-billion-dollar deal.

But the watchdog Financial Services Commission (FSC) said it was still not ready to approve the HSBC deal in light of a possible appeal.

"As to the stock manipulation charge, there is a lack of evidence to prove the guilty verdicts," said senior appeal court judge Ko Ui-Yong.

He overturned a five-year prison sentence imposed by a lower court in February on Paul Yoo, head of Lone Star's Korean unit....