Banks sell Hyundai Engineering stake for $617 mln

Published: 07 May 2009 18:25:42 PST

SEOUL, May 8 - Seven banks in South Korea have sold a stake in South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction in a block trade at the high end of their offered range, raising a combined 779.8 billion won ($617 million).

Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), a leading shareholder of the South Korean builder, said on Friday it and six other banks, including Citibank and Kookmin Bank, had sold the stake at 63,050 won per share.

The sale price for 12.4 million shares in Hyundai Engineering represented a 3 percent discount on Thursday's close, but was at the high end of the price range of between 61,100 won and 63,050 won.

The banking shareholders have recently agreed to reduce their stakes to as low as 35 percent from nearly 50 percent.

Merrill Lynch, Woori Investment & Securities, Samsung Securities and Macquarie are joint bookrunners for the deal.