SBI Holdings to sell stake in SBI Savings Bank

SBI Holdings (TSE:8473) announced that it will sell 156,147,223 shares of SBI Savings Bank to Kyobo Life Insurance by October 30, 2026. The first tranche of shares will be sold on April 30, 2025, for KRW900 billion, giving Kyobo Life Insurance a 9.97% voting stake. The sale is subject to regulatory approvals from the Korea Fair Trade Commission and the Financial Services Commission. After the final sale, SBI Savings Bank will become an equity-method affiliate of SBI Holdings and Kyobo Life Insurance will become the majority shareholder. Although SBI Holdings will no longer consolidate SBI Savings Bank, it will retain 70% of the economic interest and an equal number of board members. SBI Holdings currently owns 9.3% of Kyobo Life Insurance and intends to increase its stake to 20.4%, making Kyobo Life Insurance an equity-method affiliate of SBI Holdings. The share sale is a strategic move to recover part of SBI Holdings’ investment and deepen cooperation with Kyobo Life Insurance, while allowing Kyobo Life Insurance to expand its non-insurance business domain.