April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Private equity firm MBK Partners plans to list ING Life Korea in South Korea next year as its attempt to sell the life insurer has drawn a lukewarm response from Chinese potential buyers, sources said on Dec. 9.

MBK Partners, the largest shareholder of South Korea’s fifth-largest insurance company by assets, hired Samsung Securities and Morgan Stanley to handle the initial public offering process. 

ING Life plans to make its debut on the KOSPI market in the second half of 2017 after submitting the preliminary application for its IPO to the Korea Exchange in February.

According to sources, MBK Partners is taking a two-track strategy by opting for the IPO plan with Chinese buyers shunning investments in Korean companies as relations between the two nations have soured.

The move comes as the buyout company faces headwinds for the sale of ING Life Korea due to escalating political tension between South Korea and China over the decision to deploy an advanced US missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula.

Those who were shortlisted for the acquisition deal are all China-based companies including Anbang Insurance, Fosun Group, Taiping Life Insurance and JD Capital.

“The disposal process will continue together with the IPO plan,” an official at MBK Partners said.

MBK expect that the entire stake in ING Life would be worth 3 trillion won (US$2.57 billion) to 4 billion won. It bought the insurer for 1.8 trillion won in 2013.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)