Three proved to be an unlucky number for creditors of Samsung Life, with the sale of debt to an international bidder falling over again. For the third time in 2005, creditors have blocked the sale of the $2.43 billion stake in Samsung Life, easily South Korea's largest life insurer, in the face of Korean insurance regulations.
This time it was the bid by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Co. KKR that failed in the face of local regulations pertaining to insurance ownership. The world's largest buyout firm now joins private equity peers Newbridge Capital and Warburg Pincus as the third international bidder to unsuccessfully attempt to acquire the 17.6% stake this year.
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