U.S. Prudential Financial hires Goldman for S.Korean unit sale - report

Woori Financial

28/11/2019 08:54

SEOUL, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Prudential Financial Inc  PRU.N ,
the No. 1 U.S. life insurer, has hired Goldman Sachs  GS.N  to
explore the possibility of selling its South Korean unit, which
could fetch about 2 trillion won ($1.70 billion), Korea Economic
Daily reported.
    A sale of the unit would see the U.S. insurer exit the South
Korean market after about 30 years since it first entered.
    South Korea's large financial firms like KB Financial Group
 105560.KS  and Woori Financial Group  316140.KS , as well as
private equity funds are named as potential buyers of the
insurer, the report said.
    KB and Woori officials denied that any acquisition talks
were underway. 
    A spokesman at Prudential Life Insurance Company of Korea
said: "We do not comment on potential transactions."
    A Goldman Sachs spokesman based in Seoul declined to
comment.  
    The Prudential unit reported a fall in operating profit of
12% to 220 billion won last year, compared to a year earlier,
according to its stock exchange filing.
    
    ($1 = 1,179.3300 won)

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi and Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Edmund
Blair)
 ((hyunjoo.jin@thomsonreuters.com; 82-2-3704-5685; Reuters
Messaging: hyunjoo.jin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))