Deutsche Bank to buy SeoulBank

Deutsche Bank to buy SeoulBank

SEOUL (AFP): Deutsche Bank is in talks to buy a stake in
SeoulBank, the South Korean lender rescued from bankruptcy by the
government, a senior official said.

The German bank is acting through one of its investment funds.

"It is still too early to tell you, but I understand that an
investment firm of Deutsche Bank has expressed an interest in
buying part of Seoulbank," Lee Keun-Young, head of the Financial
Supervisory Commission, told journalists Monday.

Minister of Finance and Economy Jin Nyum said on Monday due
diligence was underway by an unidentified foreign investment
firm, apparently referring to the Deutsche Bank's investment
fund.

Jin said the government would push ahead with privatization of
state-controlled banks by mid-2002, a deadline agreed with the
International Monetary Fund for the sale of state-funded banks.

Seoulbank was nationalized in 1998 when on the brink of
bankruptcy after being badly hit by the Asian financial crisis.