JKL Partners Relaunches Sale of Lotte Non-Life Insurance with Samjong KPMG as Advisor

This article was first published on Signal, the Seoul Economic Daily's capital markets newsletter, at 17:11 on April 7, 2026. JKL Partners, a private equity fund (PEF) manager, is relaunching the sale of Lotte Non-Life Insurance. Large financial holding groups without non-life insurance subsidiaries are being mentioned as potential buyers, and negotiations with financial regulators are expected to be a key variable determining whether the deal goes through. Samjong KPMG is serving as the sale advisor. According to investment banking (IB) industry sources on Monday, JKL Partners, the largest shareholder of Lotte Non-Life Insurance, has appointed Samjong KPMG as the sale advisor and begun preparations for the sale process. JKL Partners is known to have reselected the advisor after its mandate (advisory contract) with former advisor JP Morgan expired. Teaser letters are expected to be sent to prospective buyers within this month. Financial holding groups with no or weak non-life insurance portfolios are seen as potential acquisition candidates. Korea Investment Holdings set insurance company acquisition as a within-year target at its annual general shareholders' meeting this year, and Woori Financial Group (316140.KS), which has a relatively weak non-banking business segment, is also mentioned as a potential candidate. Shinhan Financial Group (055550.KS) has also been consistently named as a potential non-life insurance acquirer. In addition, groups without insurance subsidiaries, such as BNK Financial Group, are cited as candidates. Lotte Non-Life Insurance's soundness indicators have been improving recently. Its solvency ratio (K-ICS) rose from 119.9% in the first quarter of last year to a preliminary 159.3% at year-end, surpassing the 130% threshold recommended by financial regulators. The improvement in capital adequacy was driven by a shift in the asset portfolio from a concentration in alternative investments toward safe assets such as bonds. Net profit for last year was 51.3 billion won, up 111.9% compared with 2024. The contractual service margin (CSM), a forward-looking profitability indicator, stood at 2.4749 trillion won at the end of last year, up 6.7% from 2.3202 trillion won at the end of 2024. Lotte Non-Life Insurance has received a management improvement order from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) aimed at enhancing capital adequacy. The insurer is required to draw up a management improvement plan and submit it to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Negotiations with financial regulators could be a key variable in the eventual completion of the deal. "Lotte Non-Life Insurance has solid operating cash flow and its managed asset base ranks among the top tier," an IB industry official said. "With few large non-life insurers available for sale, large financial holding groups are likely to show interest in the acquisition."

JKL Partners Relaunches Sale of Lotte Non-Life Insurance with Samjong KPMG as Advisor

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