S.Korea NongHyup preferred to buy Woori Finance's brokerage unit

NH Investment & Securities Co

24/12/2013 12:08

SEOUL, Dec 24 (Reuters) - South Korea's Woori Finance Holdings  053000.KS  picked NongHyup Financial Group Inc as the preferred bidder to buy controlling stakes in three of its units including the country's largest securities brokerage by assets, Woori said on Tuesday.  Local brokerage Kiwoom Securities Co Ltd  039490.KS  was chosen separately as preferred bidder to buy Woori's asset management unit, the banking group said in a statement.   Last week, NongHyup submitted a price of about 1.1 trillion won ($1.04 billion) for controlling stakes in Woori Investment & Securities Co Ltd  005940.KS  and three other units including a life insurance joint venture with Aviva Plc  AV.L , a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. ID:nL3N0JV1MG   The source was not authorized to speak to media.  Woori Finance and state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp accepted final bids for the control of eight Woori units this month, as part of the government's attempt to offload its entire 57 percent in Woori Finance to recoup more than $11 billion in bailouts since the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. ID:nL4N0GG400   ($1 = 1060.1000 Korean won) (Reporting by Joyce Lee; editing by Keiron Henderson) ((jungyoon.lee@thomsonreuters.com)(+82 2 3704 5609)(Reuters Messaging: jungyoon.lee.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: WOORI SALE/