Diplomatic row over US missile shield puts sale of insurer on hold

By Park Sae-jin Posted : December 9, 2016, 15:03 Updated : December 9, 2016, 15:03

[Courtesy of ING LIfe Insurance]


A diplomatic row over the planned deployment of a US missile shield in South Korea has put on hold the proposed sale of the Korean unit of ING Life Insurance.

South Korea's leading private equity fund MBK Partners took over the country's fifth-largest life insurer in 2013 for 1.84 trillion won (1.58 billion US dollars) in 2013. MBK opened bids for the sale of INF Life Korea this year.

Initially, several Chinese companies had been interested in the insurer but they dropped bids later following South Korea's decision to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

The withdrawal of Chinese investors prompted MBK to suspend the planned sale of ING Lie Korea and send a preliminary application for its initial public offering (IPO) to stock authorities.

South Korea's insurance market has been engulfed in a series of mergers and acquisitions since China's Anbang Insurance Group acquired Tongyang Life Insurance last year.In April, the Chinese company purchased the South Korean operations of Germany's insurance giant Allianz for $3.0 million.

Anbang has actively purchased overseas assets under an aggressive expansionist campaign. But it started taking a cautious approach in South Korea after the THAAD system hurt relations between Beijing and Seoul.

China has argued the US missile shield would "seriously" hurt strategic interests of China and the security balance in Northeast Asia.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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