ING Life in Korea
As the binding bid for ING Life Insurance Korea, the fifth largest life insurance firm in Korea, will start as early as within this week, its labor union urged, “Stop the rough-and-ready sales but make the sales procedure transparent.”
The Korean Federation of Clerical and Financial Workers' Unions (KFCFWU) and its ING Life Insurance branch held a press conference in front of the D-Tower in Seoul, where ING Life Insurance’s largest shareholder MBK Partners is headquartered, on July 26. They said, “MBK Partners should go through a transparent sales procedure rather than a closed-door session. Moreover, its attempt to realize an excessive profit from the sale of the company will lower the actual value of the company and cause additional suffering to employees.”
An official from the union said, “More than 200 employees were forced to leave the company in the last two years after MBK Partners became the largest shareholder of the company. Downsizing has led to the heavy workload on remaining employees and their sacrifice and unreasonable personnel systems. It has also put a lot of pressure on performance for resale.”
MBK Partners bought up 100 percent stake of ING Life Korea for 1.84 trillion won (US$1.62 billion) in 2013. At that time, the private equity fund promised to the financial authorities not to resell the company for two years after the acquisition. As soon as the two-year grace period for the sale ended, MBK Partners selected Morgan Stanley as the lead manager for the sale and tried to seek a preferred bidder for the company. At the time when the main bidding is about to start, Hong Kong-based investment manager JD Capital, China Taiping Insurance Group and Fosun International express interest in the takeover of ING Life Korea.