South Korea's Hana Financial Group, which has said it wants to take a controlling stake in Korea Exchange Bank, said yesterday it had bought shares of the bank in a block sale by Lone Star Funds on Thursday night.
J.H. Jeong, a spokesman for Hana Financial, confirmed the purchase but didn't say how many shares the company bought.
US private equity company Lone Star sold a 13.6 percent stake in the bank for 13,600 Korean won (US$14.68) a share in overnight block sales, a person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires yesterday. The sale raised 1.19 trillion won for Lone Star, the person said.
Lone Star's sale price was a 6.8 percent discount to the Exchange Bank's closing share price of 14,600 won on Thursday.
The sale leaves Lone Star with 51.02 percent of Exchange Bank, which could allow Lone Star to sell the remaining shares at a premium to any buyer wanting to gain control of the bank.
Pending legal cases surrounding Lone Star's purchase of Exchange Bank in 2003 have deterred buyers up to now.
A Seoul court is investigating allegations that Lone Star helped in underestimating Exchange Bank's financial strength to ease its purchase of the bank. Lone Star is also alleged to have manipulated the credit card unit of Exchange Bank so the bank could takeover the unit at a lower price.
Lone Star has denied any wrongdoing.
The block sale more than repays Lone Star its purchase costs of US$1.2 billion in 2003. It has also received 419.2 billion won.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS