It has been reported that Japanese financial company SBI Holdings plans to increase its stake in Kyobo Life Insurance to over 20%. SBI Holdings currently holds 9.3% equity in Kyobo Life Insurance.
On the 16th, the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that SBI Holdings decided to increase its stake in Kyobo Life Insurance in an effort to strengthen its competitiveness in the insurance institutional sector, which is relatively lacking compared to its securities and banking subsidiaries, while placing a financially strong Korean company in its group.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun estimated that SBI's total investment amount would reach 100 billion yen (approximately 1 trillion won).
SBI Holdings currently has SBI Life Insurance, a Japanese insurance company, but it is relatively smaller in scale compared to its banking and securities subsidiaries. Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that SBI Holdings plans to purchase additional equity from existing shareholders of Kyobo Life Insurance. Once the equity acquisition is completed, it will become the largest external shareholder after Shin Chang-jae, the major shareholder and chairman of Kyobo Life Insurance.
Since acquiring approximately 5% equity in Kyobo Life Insurance in 2007, SBI Holdings has maintained a cooperative relationship. In July of last year, they also signed a business agreement to strengthen cooperation in digital finance.