Let there be light

The latest merger announcement from H&CB and Kookmin leaves major issues unresolved
April 12, 2001
Has anyone ever heard of a straightforward Korean merger? Does such a thing exist? The ongoing merger of Korea’s two top banks, H&CB and Kookmin, added another notch to this track record last night (Wednesday). After the close of trading, it was announced that the two banks – which announced their intention to merge at the end of last year – had finally settled on a merger ratio.

The new ratio will see Kookmin shareholders get 63.1% of the new entity. However, no-one is particularly happy because the main issue – who will be the new CEO – has not been settled. In any normal merger situation, this would be decided fairly early on. Yet, almost five months into the process, there is still no clarity on the issue.

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