US insurer Cigna’s Korean unit says no decision yet on its possible sale

LINA Life Insurance Co., wholly owned by the US life insurance group Cigna, said on August 6 that its parent group has not made a decision to sell the South Korean arm, in response to the Korean Investors’ report on July 24 that Cigna has put LINA Life up for sale and hired Goldman Sachs as the sale manager.

LINA said in a brief note that the parent group’s possible exit from Korea was being talked about by some investment banks, but it has not seen any specific action being taken by Cigna for a possible sale under the current circumstances. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

It added that Cigna has not selected a sale manager.

LINA Life, founded in 1985, is a medium-sized life insurer in Korea with a net asset value of 1.7 trillion won ($1.4 billion). As the first foreign-owned life insurer in the country, it boasts of strong financial conditions with a risk-based capital ratio of 305.14% at the end of last year, above the industry average.

In April, the US-based Prudential Financial Inc. sold its South Korean life insurance unit to KB Financial Group for around 2.3 trillion won.