LG Card needs another $1.1b

LG Card needs another $1.1b

SEOUL: South Korea's state-owned Korea Development Bank (KDB),
the main creditor of LG Card, said Wednesday it is pursuing
another debt-equity swap to the tune of more than US$1 billion as
part of efforts to rescue the country's largest credit card
issuer.

A report by financial experts suggests that LG Card, just
rescued in January this year, needs a massive capital write-down
and an additional 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion) of fresh
capital to avoid having to be delisted from the Korea Stock
Exchange, a senior KDB official said.

Under current securities law, a firm with losses exceeding 50
percent of iots capital for two years in a row faces delisting.

Last year, LG Card's losses surpassed 50 percent of its
capital and the company was put under surveillance by the Korea
Stock Exchange. -- AFP