Goldman Sachs exits Hana in $331m sell down

The Wall Street giant's principal investment unit sold 9.5 million shares - its entire 3.9% holding - at KRW38,950 apiece, implying a 3% discount on Monday's closing price, Bloomberg reported.

Goldman first invested in Hana, South Korea's fourth-largest financial by assets, in 2005 and took its holding to 7.5% following a $1 billion rights issue in 2010. It was the company's largest shareholder until it sold 7.5 million shares in April 2011.

In 2003, Goldman exited a $550million investment made in Hana's rival Kookmin Bank in 1999.

As part of efforts to close the gap on market leaders KB Financial Group and Woori Finance Holdings, Hana recently won approval for a KRW3.92 trillion takeover of Korea Exchange Bank (KEB). It is purchasing a 51% stake owned by US private equity firm Lone Star.

Hana first offered to buy Lone Star's interest for $4.2 billion in November 2010, but regulators withheld their approval for the deal until they could resolve whether Lone Star had manipulated KEB's stock price ahead of purchasing the company earlier in the decade. The court eventually ruled this to be true.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Exits
• Financials
• Financial Services
• Hana Financial
• Goldman Sachs
• Lone Star Funds
• South Korea
• Sell down
• Exit