Hana, Shinsegae blocks keep focus on Korea

Two more block trades were completed in the Korean market on Tuesday after BNP Paribas’ sell-down in Shinhan Financial on Monday.

Korea Exchange Bank KEB sold about two-thirds of its stake in Hana Financial Group, raising W340.41 billion $321 million, and Industrial Bank of Korea IBK offloaded its entire position in Shinsegae, an operator of department stores and discount stores, for W86.6 billion $82 million.

Both stocks have had a strong run since late August and are trading at or near year-highs, but even so the two sellers achieved pretty tight discounts.

At a 2% discount, the Hana trade even came tighter...