The South Korean top financial regulator said Monday that it will dispose of a minor stake in Woori Bank held by the government as part of a process to privatize the local major lender.

The Public Fund Oversight Committee under the Financial Services Commission will sell an estimated 18 percent of the 26.97 percent stake in the bank, which is held by the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., the FSC said.

The stake will be sold to multiple investors through open bidding and the buyers will be given a “call option” that allows them to purchase more stocks of Woori Bank at a specified price within a specific time period.

The committee plans to close the bidding on Nov. 28 and finalize bidders for the stake by early December.

The FSC had already put a controlling 30 percent stake in the bank up for sale last month, seeking a single buyer to obtain the managerial right of the lender.

The bank’s parent Woori Finance Holdings was established in 2001 by merging five troubled banks with a 13 trillion won ($12.4 billion) bailout in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. (Yonhap)