Home »Money and Banking » World » LG Group and creditors agree $960 million Card bailout

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  • Jan 1st, 2005
  • Comments Off on LG Group and creditors agree $960 million Card bailout
Creditors of LG Card and its former parent, LG Group, agreed on Friday a $960 million lifeline for South Korea's biggest credit card company, averting a corporate collapse that had threatened the economy. LG Group, the country's second-largest conglomerate, and the creditors that own LG Card Co Ltd had agreed to provide 500 billion won ($480 million) each following a marathon meeting overnight, said Yoo Ji-chang, governor of leading creditor Korea Development Bank.

The two sides had been disputing how to share the cost of a bailout amid a threat by creditors to liquidate the firm, a move that would have sent shockwaves through Asia's third-largest economy.

The bailout was smaller than the $1.15 billion creditors had been seeking, but analysts said the reduction was not significant and expected LG Card to continue its recovery.

"The purpose of the capital injection is to avoid delisting and the goal will be met," said David Kim, an analyst at Sejong Securities. "Once LG Card further recovers next year, it can raise more funds on its own."

LG Card, which narrowly escaped bankruptcy in January after a $4.5 billion bailout, needed a further cash injection to avoid its shares being delisted next year.

A delisting would have triggered massive debt redemption calls and bankrupted the firm, which has nearly 7 million active customers.

The Korea Stock Exchange can delist a firm if its debt exceeds assets for two years running.

South Korea's third-largest banking group, Woori Financial Group, said on Friday it was interested in taking over LG Card if it was put up for sale.

"Like other competitors such as Hana Bank and National Agricultural Co-operative Federation (NACF) , Woori is also interested in taking over LG Card," a Woori spokesman quoted its chief executive, Hwang Young-key, as telling reporters.

But Hana Bank told Reuters it was not interested in LG Card for now, while NACF was not immediately available for comment.

"LG Card will not need any more financial aid after this," Laah Chong-gyu, KDB executive director, told reporters.

He said creditors had agreed to cut interest rates on LG Card's existing debt by 2 percentage points from about 7.5 percent.

"That will help LG Card save hundreds of billions of won a year," he said. The two sides had appeared far apart on a deal on Thursday, but had left the door open for more talks.

LG Group had offered earlier this week between 180 billion won and 264.3 billion won for a bailout, while creditors wanted it to provide 670 billion won.

"After the two sides agreed to contribute an equal amount, they decided to cut the total bailout size considering LG Card's strong earnings recently," Laah said. LG Card has posted a monthly profit since September.

South Korea's consumer credit market was badly shaken when a credit boom went sour in late 2002 as millions of consumers fell behind on their debt payments.

Copyright Reuters, 2005


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