Financial regulators are been in the last stage before their ruling on Lone Star Funds’ eligibility as the biggest shareholder of Korea Exchange Bank.

“Inspectors are finally reviewing the issue as to whether Lone Star has been a non-financial investor (which is banned from owning a local bank),” Financial Services Commission chairman Kim Seok-dong told reporters Thursday.

But Kim said the FSC has yet to decide whether to announce its stance on the U.S.-based equity fund at the panel discussion, slated for Friday.

The top regulator also declined to mention the possibility that the FSC panel members may approve or reject Hana Financial Group’s application to take over Korea Exchange Bank during the scheduled meeting.

Panel discussions for next month are slated to take place twice -- Feb. 8 and 22.

The deadline for the regulatory decision on the M&A application is Feb. 29 and the preliminary deal between Hana Financial and Lone Star expires on the same day.

Financial regulators are suspected of fabricating documents on Lone Star Funds in 2003 when KEB was acquired by the buyout fund, according to a TV news report.

At least over the past few months, the FSC (then the Financial Supervisory Commission) has argued that the records, submitted by an accounting firm, prove that Lone Star was eligible to own a Korean bank.

But the documents were allegedly drawn up by financial authorities -- the FSC or the Financial Supervisory Service, an executive arm of the FSC -- not by the accounting firm Samjong KPMG, the news report said.



By Kim Yon-se
(kys@heraldcorp.com)