Korea Investment Corp, Hana Retain BOfA Stakes - Sources
May 15 2009 - 4:31AM
Dow Jones News
South Korea's sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Bank and
Hana Financial Group (086790.SE) have kept their stakes in Bank of
America, people familiar with the matter said Friday.
KIC and Hana acquired the stakes when their holdings in Merrill
Lynch were converted to Bank of America shares after BofA acquired
Merrill earlier this year.
"KIC is still holding the shares...We, of course, have a
contingency plan, but haven't touched" the shareholding, a person
familiar with KIC matters told Dow Jones Newswires.
In January last year, KIC invested $2 billion to acquire
newly-issued Merrill Lynch preferred shares.
It currently holds a stake of around 0.97% in BofA, the person
said.
Meanwhile, a person at Hana Financial said the financial
institution has kept its stake in BofA, which it acquired following
its purchase of $50 million of Merrill Lynch shares last year.
Japan's Mizuho Financial Group (8411.TO) has also said it
doesn't plan to sell its Bank of America stake for now.
The comments follow news earlier Friday that Temasek Holdings
Pte. Ltd., Singapore's state-owned investment company, had sold its
entire 3.8% stake in Bank of America.
-By Jin-Young Yook and Kanga Kong, Dow Jones Newswires;
822-2198-2230; jin-young.yook@dowjones.com
(Atsuko Fukase in Tokyo contributed to this story)