Samsung Life aiming for IPO in H1 2010

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Life, South Korea's largest life insurer, said it was aiming to go public in the first half of next year and planning to pick a lead manager in December.

"If the process goes through smoothly, an IPO could be possible within 6 or 7 months," Cho Tae-hyun, a spokesman for Samsung Life, told Reuters.

Tong Yang Life Insurance became South Korea's first publicly traded life insurer in September.

(Reporting by Marie-France Han; editing by Jonathan Hopfner)