("KB Financial Plans Up To US$2.4B Rights Issue-Sources"
published at 1523 GMT misstated the name of the company. The error
was also in the original story timed at 1006 GMT. The correct
version follows:)
(Adds bond sale plan, Tier 1 ratio of Kookmin and its
peers.)
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
South Korea's KB Financial Group Inc. (KB) plans to raise KRW2
trillion-KRW3 trillion (US$1.6 billion-US$2.4 billion) in a rights
issue and has mandated six banks to underwrite the deal, people
familiar with the situation said Thursday.
KB Financial, which wholly owns Kookmin Bank, South Korea's
largest bank by assets,hired Citigroup Inc. (C), Credit Suisse
Group (CS), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Bank of
America-Merrill Lynch and two local banks to handle the deal, they
said.
The timing of the rights issue hasn't been finalized, they
added.
Kookmin Bank, which had just raised US$1 billion in a covered
bond issue in May, is also looking to raise as much as US$500
million from a U.S. dollar-denominated bond sale this month, people
familiar with the matter said earlier this month. It has mandated
Citigroup, HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC), Barclays PLC (BARC.LN), BNP
Paribas S.A. (BNP), and J.P. Morgan for the sale, they said.
KB Financial'splanned rights issue follows Shinhan Financial
Group Co.'s (055550.SE) US$940.9 million offering in March.
As its larger peers raise funds, another major South Korean
bank, Woori Bank, is under pressure to replenish its capital,
analysts said.
Woori, a unit of Woori Finance Holdings Co. (053000.SE), has a
Tier 1 ratio of 8.7%, while Kookmin's stands at 10.3% and Shinhan's
at 10.1%.
-By Amy Or, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2832 2335;
amy.or@dowjones.com