Kim Yong-beom, Meritz Vice Chairman, "Incorporating Fire and Securities Subsidiaries, Raising Shareholder Return Rate to 50%"

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Meritz Financial Group will fully incorporate Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance and Meritz Securities as wholly owned subsidiaries. Kim Yong-beom, Vice Chairman of Meritz Financial Group, stated that the group plans to maximize shareholder returns through the incorporation of affiliates.

Meritz Financial Group announced on the 21st that it will conduct a comprehensive stock exchange to fully incorporate Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance and Meritz Securities as wholly owned subsidiaries. Accordingly, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance and Meritz Securities are expected to be delisted early next year.

The exchange ratio is 1.2657378 shares of holding company stock per 1 share of Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance stock, and 0.1607327 shares of holding company stock per 1 share of Meritz Securities stock. Meritz Financial Group plans to issue new shares to deliver the exchanged stocks.

Currently, Meritz Financial Group holds 59.5% of Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance shares and 53.4% of Meritz Securities shares. Upon completion of the comprehensive exchange, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance and Meritz Securities will each be incorporated as 100% subsidiaries of Meritz Financial Group.

After the issuance of new shares and the comprehensive exchange, Chairman Jo Jung-ho’s holding company stake is expected to decrease from the current 75.8% to approximately 47%.

Vice Chairman Kim stated during the conference call that "due to the rapid expansion of volatility in the financial market and increased uncertainty in future investments, this decision was made to actively respond to changes in the business environment and generate stable profits."

Kim also announced, "From the 2023 fiscal year, the integrated Meritz Financial Group plans, as a principle, to return 50% of consolidated net income to shareholders, including dividends and share buybacks and cancellations."

This level exceeds the average shareholder return rate of Meritz Financial Group, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance, and Meritz Securities over the past three years, and the group plans to maintain this proactive shareholder return policy for more than three years.

Meanwhile, Vice Chairman Kim emphasized, "This comprehensive stock exchange has nothing to do with the major shareholder’s stake succession," adding, "The major shareholder has no plans for stake succession, and there is no conflict of interest between the major shareholder and general shareholders regarding the stock price."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.