Kookmin Bank readies block sale of parent’s stake

Yet reports said private placement was possible rather than a block deal for the lender to unload its stake in its parent by September.

Kookmin Bank, banking unit of KB Financial Group Inc, is preparing a block sale of a 9 percent stake in its parent group, local media reported on Wednesday.

The report on the sale of KB treasury shares held by Kookmin, worth about 2 trillion Korean won ($1.84 billion) at the current market value, comes as the company explores ways to reduce the stake it acquired when the bank became a holding company in 2008.

A Kookmin Bank spokesman said no decision had been reached yet.

Yonhap Infomax news agency quoted an unidentified source as saying that a private placement was possible rather than a block deal, according to a report in Reuters.

The country's top mortgage lender needs to sell its stake in its parent by September to meet local banking rules, and has unloaded part of the holding via a slew of share swaps.