'Hana Group vowed more payment to Lone Star'

By Kim Jae-won Hana Financial Group has promised to pay a significant amount on top of the contract sum for the purchase of a controlling stake in the Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) from U.S. private equity fund Lone Star, according to a copy of the contract The Korea Times obtained from Rep. Ooh Che-chang of the main opposition Democratic Party. An official at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said a review was being conducted to see whether this was illegal or, more broadly, will affect the financial health of Hana after the merger. “We are looking into it,” the FSS official said on condition of anonymity. The Hana-Lone Star deal is awaiting the financial regulator’s approval. The bone of contention is over per-share dividends of 850 won or about 280 billion won in total that Hana said it would pay on top of the 14,250 won per share or 4.7 trillion won (about $4.1 billion) in the contract. It didn’t disclose this arrangement when the two announced the deal. The combined amount of about 5 trillion won was similar to what Lone Star demanded from HSBC in the failed sale attempt. However, the document shows that it was not a dividend but a guarantee, raising suspicions that Hana tried to lower the sum in the contract in order to avoid public criticism. Lone Star’s previous two attempts were folded partially or entirely in the face of a public outcry over its enormous profits. The Hana-Lone Star contract shows “top-up” consideration will be taken to ensure the payment of 850 won per-share in dividends, even if there are none to go around. The date for the expected 2010 dividends is Dec. 28, the document shows. LSF-KEB Holdings, an affiliate of Lone Star based in Belgium, is identified as the seller. Both sides also agreed that if the deal is closed between Dec. 28 and the date of the annual general meeting (AGM) of KEB in 2011, “the purchaser shall pay the seller an amount per share equal to the difference between the per-share amount approved and payable as the expected 2010 dividend and 850 won per share.” It means that if the annual general meeting decides to pay dividends less than 850 won per share to shareholders, Hana Financial is obliged to pay Lone Star the difference between 850 won and the dividend. The contract also designated the payment date as “no later than two business days following the AGM.” Experts said the consideration clauses show that the additional 850 won per share is an additional payment for the share purchase. “As the document shows, Hana Financial promised to pay top-up consideration to Lone Star, which was not included in the principal consideration,” said Woo Chang-bin, a chief aide of Rep. Ooh. Woo said it is inappropriate that Hana Financial did not disclose the fact before. “Hana Financial should have unveiled it when it announced the deal last month.” The KEB labor union said Hana Financial announced the lower payment intentionally in an effort to avoid criticism that it paid too much to Lone Star. Hana Financial said it is not an additional payment for the share purchase, but dividends, which Lone Star can claim. “The top-up consideration is all about dividends of KEB,” said Lee Ig-soo, chief spokesman of Hana Financial. “Lone Star has the right to claim it as a major shareholder. This is not an additional payment.” ‘하나금융, 론스타에게 추가 매매 자금 지급 약속” 하나금융그룹이 미국계 사모펀드 론스타에 외환은행 주식 매매계약과 관련해 기존에 발표했던 가격 외에 추가로 상당한 액수의 금액을 지급하기로 약속했다는 사실이 코리아타임스가 민주당 우제창 의원실로부터 받은 계약서 사본을 통해 확인됐다. 이에 관해 금융감독원의 한 관계자는 현재 이 사안의 적법성 여부에 대해서 심사하고 있으며, 나아가 이것이 외환은행 인수 후 하나금융의 재정건전성에 미칠 영향에 대해 살펴보고 있다고 말했다. “우리는 현재 이 문제에 대해 검토하고 있습니다,”고 금감원의 한 관계자가 익명을 전제로 말했다. 하나금융은 현재 외환은행 인수 계약 건에 대해 당국의 승인을 기다리고 있는 중이다. 문제의 핵심은 하나금융이 론스타에게 지급하기로 한 주당 14,250원, 총 4.7조원의 매각 대금 이외에 추가로 주당 850원씩 총 2천8백억원 규모의 금액을 지불하기로 계약서에 서명한 것이다. 하나금융은 계약 발표 당시 추가 금액의 존재에 대해 발표하지 않았다. 기존의 매각 금액에 추가 금액을 더하면 실질적인 매각 대금은 총 5조원에 이른다. 이는 론스타가 HSBC와의 실패한 협상에서 요구했던 금액과 비슷하다. / Courtesy of the Office of Rep. Ooh Che-chang

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