Woori Financial Group Announces Consummation of Agreement for Acquisition of Shares of LG Investment & Securities

Business Wire, Sept 23, 2004

NEW YORK -- Woori Finance Holdings ("WFH") consummated an agreement for the acquisition of LG Investment & Securities ("LGIS") on September 23, 2004. WFH will acquire 25,877,487 shares of common stock, which comprises 21.2% of LGIS's common stock outstanding. The purchase price has been agreed to 11,500 won per share, which amounts to an aggregate purchase price of 297.6 billion won.

Through the acquisition of LGIS, WFH plans to diversify, and ultimately increase, its fee income revenues through expanding its business portfolio to supplement fees generated through its banking business. With a larger securities firm in its business portfolio, WFH plans to continue to strive to become a leader in universal banking services.

Subject to regulatory approval, we intend to merge LGIS and Woori Securities as soon as possible, and plan to operate the newly-merged securities entity with the aim to become an industry leader in terms of capital and market position. We also plan to merge LGIS's investment trust operations with our investment trust business. The merged investment trust business will rank sixth in terms of assets under management (8.7 trillion won), and WFH plans to use this as a foothold to become a major player in the asset management market.

We anticipate synergies from these mergers, and in particular revenue synergies by leveraging the extensive corporate client relationships of Woori Bank and the strong investment banking capabilities of the merged securities firm will be the key to realizing growth for the long-term.