[Intl-tobacco] Korea: Govt To Sell 20%-30% Korea Tobacco Stake In 2H '01 (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Govt To Sell 20%-30% Korea Tobacco Stake In 2H '01
by Jeongjin Lim / Dow Jones Newswires; 822-732-2165; DJN.Seoul@DowJones.com
Source: The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, Wednesday, 7/4/01

SEOUL -- The South Korean government plans to sell a stake of around
20%-30% in Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corp. (Q.KTO) through an issuance of
global depositary receipts in the second half of 2001, the Ministry of
Finance and Economy said Wednesday.

The government aims to privatize the state-run tobacco and ginseng
monopoly and lower its stake to less than 35%, from 53%.

Details including date and size haven't been determined yet, denying a
MoneyToday's Web site report Wednesday that the GDRs will be issued in
September, said a ministry official who declined to be named.

In December, the government sold a 10% stake held by state-run Industrial
Bank of Korea (Q.IKB) through exchangeable bonds, or EBs, that can be
converted into company shares three years later. The company opted for the
bond issue because it had failed to issue GDRs then due to poor market
conditions.

Credit Suisse First Boston (Z.CSF) and Warburg Dillon Read LLC (U.WDR) are
serving as lead managers for the stake sale.

At 0520 GMT (1:20 p.m. EST Wednesday), shares of Korea Tobacco were up 400
won (US$1=KRW1,295), or 2.3%, to KRW17,550 on volume of 78,120 shares.


URL for this Article:
http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=DI-CO-20010704-000626.djm