Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Clifford Chance have advised on a $1.7 billion private placement of shares in Seoul-based banking services company KB Financial Group, Inc.

The 35 million shares in the placement represent the nine-percent stake in KB Financial held by its Kookmin Bank subsidiary as the result of a 2008 restructuring. Kookmin was required to sell its interest in KB Financial by September 2011 in order to comply with Korean regulations on financial holding companies.