Thomas's Sharebook 

April 3, 2012 - Springhill Group: Park Min Ho - I don’t know if this is related to Warren Buffett’s March visit to South Korea but General Re, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, is planning to bid for South Korean insurer Tong Yang Life Insurance.

Tong Yang’s majority shareholder private-equity firm Vogo Fund is planning to sell its up to a 60.7-per cent stake in the insurer valued at about 937 billion won ($809 million).

In March, Warren Buffett visited South Korea to help open a new plant for Iscar Metalworking, which Berkshire owns 80%. At the same time, he was on the hunt for what he calls “Elephants”, or large well run companies that he could potentially acquire at a good price.

“We’re looking at a number of big businesses in Korea, the U.S., the U.K. We hope to find good companies wherever they may be. Basically, the bigger, the better,” he said at the time.

About Tong Yang Life Insurance

Tong Yang Life Insurance is part of the Tongyang Group which has 31 divisions across various industries such as utilities, manufacturing, and financial services to name a few. On its insurance website, Tongyang states:

TONGYANG Life Insurance was founded in 1989 to provide social security and specialized insurance services. Total assets are currently 12.8 trillion won, with premium income of 3.5 trillion won. (source)