KB Financial rights issue may raise up to $896 million

KB Financial Group, the owner of Korea's Kookmin Bank, yesterday set the first reference price for its upcoming rights issue at W37,250 per share, which means the maximum it can raise from the fully-underwritten issue will be W1.12 trillion $896 million at today's exchange rate. The company said earlier this month that it would raise about W1 trillion from the share sale to existing investors.

That size was down from W2 trillion that the company had earlier indicated that it wanted to raise, based on information provided by investment banks that pitched for the mandate. According to media reports, the company has chosen to raise less than initially planned as its capital base has turned...