KB Financial buys Prudential Life for 2.26 tln won

SEOUL, April 10 (Yonhap) -- KB Financial Group, a major South Korean banking group, on Friday signed a 2.26 trillion-won(US$1.86 billion) deal to acquire Prudential Financial's South Korean operations to strengthen its non-banking business.

KB Financial said in a regulatory filing that it acquired an entire stake in Prudential Life Insurance Co. of Korea Ltd.

The move came three months after Yoon Jong-kyoo, chairman and CEO of KB Financial, announced a plan to pursue mergers and acquisitions of other financial firms to beef up its business portfolio.

The South Korean banking giant has been racing to expand its business portfolio and secure new growth momentum amid declining margins due to record low interest rates and tough competition in the nearly saturated domestic market.

In December, KB Kookmin Bank, the group's flagship unit, took over a 70 percent stake in Prasac Microfinance Institution Ltd. in Cambodia for $603 million. KB plans to acquire the remaining 30 percent stake in Prasac within the next two years.

In 2018, KB invested 114 billion won to gain a 22 percent stake in Indonesia's Bank Bukopin in a move to enter the Southeast Asian microfinance market.

entropy@yna.co.kr
(END)