SKorea to review sale of Korea Exchange Bank to HSBC: watchdog

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

SEOUL (AFP) — South Korea's financial watchdog said Friday it will resume a regulatory review of the proposed six-billion-dollar sale of Korea Exchange Bank to global giant HSBC Holdings in the coming week.

"The government has decided to resume a review concerning the approval for HSBC to acquire KEB stocks," Kim Gwang-Soo, director general of the Financial Service Bureau at the Financial Services Commission (FSC), told journalists.

In April, HSBC and US buyout fund Lone Star said they were delaying the deadline for the deal until July 31.

The latest announcement raised hopes that Seoul will allow HSBC to buy a 51-percent stake in KEB when legal disputes over Lone Star's 2003 takeover of the Korean bank are resolved.

A lower court verdict is expected...