[THE INVESTOR] The process of selling its majority stake in Woori Bank will be resumed in the third quarter to help recover public funds, according to people familiar with the matter on July 11.

This follows four failed attempt to privatize the state bank since 2010.

In a meeting held last week, the public funds management committee under the Financial Services Commission reconfirmed the government’s stance to privatize Woori Bank and retrieve public money injected into the bank during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, a person with direct knowledge of the deal said by phone. 

The state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. currently owns a 51.06 percent stake in Woori Bank. JP Morgan, Samsung Securities and Mirae Asset Daewoo will jointly advise the planned sale. The KDIC and the FSC, which oversees the KDIC, are still reviewing the details of the sale plan, the person said.

“We are planning to start the fifth bidding process in July or August to select a preferred bidder by the end of this year,” he said without elaborating.

Out of the 51.06 percent Woori stake, KDIC will keep a 20 percent stake and sell the remaining 31.06 percent in block sales.

If a bidder wants a controlling stake in Woori, the KDIC will hand over the management rights to the bidder, if selected as the preferred bidder, a KDIC official said.

“Multiple parties, including China’s Anbang Insurance Group, have shown interest in buying about a 10 percent stake in Woori or a smaller stake,” the KDIC official said.

Anbang could not be reached for comment.

Anbang had previously bid for a majority stake in Woori Bank in 2014. At the time, the controlling stake was not sold because under Korean rules, at least two bidders should attend the auction for the sale to proceed.

A 10 percent stake in Woori was valued at 639 billion won (US$556 million) based on the closing price of 9,450 won on July8.

Woori shares have risen more than 7 percent this year, outperforming the broader KOSPI’s 0.1 percent gain.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)