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The Korea Herald
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THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Deals

Shinhan’s acquisition of Orange Life nearing closure

  • PUBLISHED :September 04, 2018 - 15:18
  • UPDATED :September 04, 2018 - 16:16
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[THE INVESTOR] Shinhan Financial Group’s acquisition of Orange Life, formerly known as ING Life, is imminent as the board of directors is set to decide on the merger on Sept. 5.

The board is slated to review the acquisition of a 59.15 percent stake held by the country’s leading private equity fund MBK Partners in an extraordinary meeting. 




Industry sources said that Shinhan plans to pay 47,400 won (US$42.55) apiece for 4,850 shares, including the management premium. The total deal price falls just short of 2.3 trillion won.

Shares of ING Life closed at 34,800 on Sept. 3.

“The devil is in the details. There is a lot of fine-tuning to do until we sign a stock purchase agreement,” Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung said. The board will review some details including who would take responsibility if unexpected losses are incurred.

Shinhan had maintained the top position for nine consecutive years until it was dethroned by KB Financial last year. In the first half of this year, KB recorded a net profit of 1.9 trillion won while Shinhan logged 1.79 trillion won.

By acquiring Orange Life which has 31 trillion won in assets and is the sixth-largest life insurer in the country, Shinhan hopes to take back the top position.

“I expect to reinforce our non-banking business after the acquisition,” Cho said.

In 2013, MBK Partners purchased 100 percent stake in ING Life Insurance from Dutch financial company ING Group for 1.8 trillion won. It sought to sell the insurer to Chinese investors in 2016, including Anbang Insurance Group, but the deal fell through due to a political row between Korea and China. MBK Partners, instead, debuted ING Life on the stock market last year.

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

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