April 27, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] KEB Hana Bank sold its entire stake in SK hynix worth 386 billion won (US$362 million) to end a 15-year relationship with the semiconductor maker, according to a regulatory filing on Jan. 4.

KEB Hana -- the result of a merger between KEB and Hana Bank -- offloaded 4.7 million shares in the semiconductor company at 82,000 won per share during the last quarter of 2017. 

Related: 
[EQUITIES] ‘SK hynix losing steam’


In 2002, then Korea Exchange Bank had obtained a 19.62 percent of the cash-strapped semiconductor company through a debt-to-equity swap and remained the largest shareholder until 2009. The creditors of Hynix led by KEB sold a majority stake to SK Telecom, the country’s largest wireless operator, in 2011 and has since then been gradually reducing its stakes.

It had already been widely speculated that the bank would wait until this year to sell the stake in SK hynix amid record high earnings of the semiconductor industry. Analysts here said that KEB Hana sold the stake ahead of the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards 9 (IFRS9) on Jan. 1.

KEB Hana made about 230 billion won from the recent stake-sale, which is expected to be reflected in the bank’s net profit in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to a report by Eugune Investment.

Following the news, shares in KEB Hana Bank inched down almost 1 percent in the morning  before closing down 0.19 percent to 51,300 won. After rising as high as 2.5 percent in the morning, SK hynix pared its earlier gain to close down 0.19 percent to 51,300 won from a day earlier. The benchmark KOSPI declined by 0.80 percent to 2,466.46 points on Jan. 4. 

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)