Michael Hong runs an investment advisory boutique in Seoul called Red Herring and is the former country manager of GE Capital in Korea. He was one of those who attended a conference FinanceAsia held on the IPO of the Korean life insurers a couple of months ago in Seoul. The conference debated the rights and wrongs of whether Korean policyholders should get a share of the proceeds when Samsung Life and Kyobo Life conduct their IPOs. Their claim to a share has repeatedly held up the IPO process. Here Hong explains why, on further investigation, he feels the foreign view misses a vital point in supporting the insurers against the policyholders.
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