The GDRs would be placed privately or publicly in the U.S. market and listed on the London Stock Exchange, it said. The exchange said in a statement the GDRs would be issued on the basis of 28,648,934 existing common shares of the company. The GDRs represent 15 percent of the state-run company's 190.99 million common shares listed on October 8. Five percent of the total shares on the local market were earmarked for foreign investors. The GDR issue would boost foreign ownership in the firm to 20 percent. Tobacco & Ginseng fell 450 won to close Friday to 36,050. The government put up a 15 percent stake, or 28.65 million shares, in Tobacco and Ginseng for the initial public offering last month as part of its plans to privatise state-run companies. The government held a 34.4 percent stake in the firm prior to the IPO and had said it would sell a further 15 percent stake by issuing GDRs in the final quarter of the year. State-run banks hold most of the remaining shares. The company, which monopolises the manufacture of cigarettes in South Korea, is also indirectly involved in the trade of the medicinal herb ginseng through an affiliate.

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