[Intl-tobacco] Govt To Sell 10% Stake In Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corp (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Govt To Sell 10% Stake In Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corp
by Soozhana Choi / Dow Jones Newswires; 822-732-2165;
soozhana.choi@dowjones.com
k
Source: The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, Thursday, 12/14/00

SEOUL -- The South Korean government will sell a 10% stake in Korea
Tobacco & Ginseng Corp. (Q.KTO) this week as part of its plan to privatize
the company, the Ministry of Finance and Economy said Thursday.

An official at the ministry said the government has hired Credit Suisse
First Boston to handle the sale, which is estimated to bring in US$300
million, or about 400 billion won ($1=KRW1,200.9).

The government will sell the stake, currently held by state-run Industrial
Bank of Korea (Q.IKB), through exchangeable bonds that can later be
converted into shares of Korea Tobacco & Ginseng.

"We'll finish it (Friday)," said the ministry official said, declining to
elaborate on the deal.

The 10% stake amounts to 19 million shares.

The Finance Ministry had pursued issuing global depositary receipts in
Korea Tobacco & Ginseng since November last year, but failed to do so due
to poor market conditions.

The government had intended to fully privatize Korea Tobacco & Ginseng by
the end of 2000, according to an initial privatization strategy outlined
in 1998.

The Finance Ministry currently holds a 13.8% stake in Korea Tobacco &
Ginseng, while state-invested Industrial Bank of Korea holds a 35.2%
stake.  Export-Import Bank of Korea and Korea Development Bank (Q.KDV)
each hold 7% stakes in the company.

On Thursday, shares of Korea Tobacco & Ginseng were down KRW100 to close
at KRW18,900


URL for this Article:
http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=DI-CO-20001214-000568.djml