IMM PE sells $135 mn Woori Financial shares in block deal
Carlyle Group and Affinity Equity Partners unloaded shares in KB Financial and Shinhan Financial this year
By Mar 03, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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![Woori Financial Group headquarters](https://www.kedglobal.com/data/ked/image/2024/03/03/ked202403030002.700x.9.jpg)
IMM Private Equity has sold 180.5 billion won ($135 million) worth of shares in South Korea’s Woori Financial Group in a block deal, reaping 42.3 billion won in capital gains, according to people with knowledge of the matter on Saturday.
The Seoul-based private equity firm unloaded the shares at 14,370 won per share, or 31% above its purchase price of 11,000 won in 2016.
The stock deal represents a 3.6% discount on Woori’s closing price of Feb. 29, the last trading day before the March 1 Liberation Day holiday. IMM PE had offered a discount of 3.0-5.0% on Woori shares.
The deal comes after Woori’s share price climbed to 15,200 won on Feb. 19, its highest point since May 2022 amid expectations of the so-called corporate value-up program led by the government to buoy the anemic domestic stock market.
![IMM PE sells 5 mn Woori Financial shares in block deal](https://www.kedglobal.com/data/ked/image/2024/03/03/ked202403030003.221x.9.jpg)
After the block sale, IMM PE’s ownership of Woori Financial has decreased to 3.85% from 5.57%.
But it is still entitled to recommend an external board member like other institutional stakeholders: Kiwoom Securities Co., Korea Investment & Securities Co., Eugene Private Equity and Taiwan-based Fubon Financial Holding Co.
Goldman Sachs and UBS jointly managed the block sale.
![KB Financial Group headquarters](https://www.kedglobal.com/data/ked/image/2024/03/03/ked202403030005.700x.9.jpg)
Since the start of this year, private equity groups have capitalized on the advance in Korean banking groups’ share prices.
Last month, The Carlyle Group divested of its entire 1.2% stake in KB Financial Group, the country’s No. 1 financial services firm, at 326.0 billion won in block trade.
Seoul-based Affinity Equity Partners had cashed out a 2% stake in Shinhan Financial Group at around 450 billion won in two block deals between late January and early February of this year. It now holds a 1.8% stake in South Korea’s No. 2 banking group.
Write to Seok-Cheol Choi at dolsoi@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.
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