KB Financial to sell 2 pct stake to Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui

SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- KB Financial Group Inc. said Wednesday it has decided to sell as much as a 2 percent stake to Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. as part of efforts to unload treasury stocks created in the process of its transformation into a holding company.

KB Financial Group, the holding company of Kookmin Bank, plans to sell treasury
stocks worth 4 trillion won (US$2.82 billion) within the year to secure enough
ammunition for possible mergers and acquisitions. The group launched in late
September.
"Kookmin Bank, which holds a 20.66 percent stake in KB Financial, plans to sell
up to 2 percent to the banking unit of Sumitomo Mitsui between November and the
end of June 2009," the group said in a regulatory filing. "The sale will be made
by splitting the process as much as four times and sales prices will depend on
market conditions."
The move came as Hwang Young-key, KB Financial Group's head, said that the group
is still seeking to sell treasury stocks as planned although the global financial
turmoil has worsened.
KB Financial said the move will help strengthen its tie-up with Japan's
third-largest bank. Shares of KB Financial Group tumbled by the daily limit of 15
percent to 32,000 won.