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Photo = Yonhap news |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] On April 30, KB Financial Group announced that it will cancel a record 12.06 million shares on May 15, marking the largest share buyback and cancellation in the company’s history.
The shares being canceled include 5.66 million shares purchased in the second half of last year (approximately 5 trillion won) and 6.4 million shares purchased from February this year (approximately 5.2 trillion won). The total value of the buybacks, based on the purchase prices, amounts to approximately 10.2 trillion won.
KB Financial’s proactive decision to carry out this large-scale share cancellation is expected to help alleviate investor concerns about its corporate value-enhancement program and contribute to stabilizing the market.
A spokesperson for KB Financial emphasized that the share cancellation is part of its commitment to the corporate value enhancement framework announced in October of last year. The company promises to continue implementing its unique value-up strategy without disruption, regardless of recent market volatility and external uncertainties. KB Financial also plans to improve per-share performance indicators such as earnings per share (EPS) and book value per share (BPS) through continued share buybacks and cancellations.
The company’s value-up framework is designed to allocate all capital exceeding a common equity ratio of 13% to shareholder returns without limit, and any capital exceeding a common equity ratio of 13.5% during the year will also be used for shareholder returns. Share buybacks and cancellations are expected to increase the per-share dividend, with quarterly uniform dividends based on annual dividend totals.
The cancellation process, including corporate registration changes and listing changes on the stock exchange, is expected to be completed by the end of May. After the procedure is completed, investors will be able to confirm the reduced number of shares through MTS and HTS systems.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
