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‘We can select the preferred bidder next week.’
November 21, 2009
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| The head of KDB Financial Group Inc., a state financial holding company, said yesterday the group will seek to buy local banks including Korea Exchange Bank controlled by Lone Star Funds. “Next year, the local banking sector is likely to see a shake up... .We are open to various [takeover] opportunities at home and abroad including KEB,” Min Euoo-sung, chairman of KDB Financial Group, told reporters. KDB Financial Group was created in late October as the holding company for the state-run Korea Development Bank and four other units as part of a government plan to sell its stake. Min earlier said that the group is looking into acquiring financial firms in Asia in a bid to expand its funding sources, adding that it is looking at two or three countries. The sale of KEB has been stalled since the British bank HSBC Holdings Plc. pulled out of a deal to buy a 51.02-percent stake in the bank in September last year during the global financial crunch. KB Financial Group, which controls Korea’s top lender Kookmin Bank, has continued to express interest in acquiring KEB. Also yesterday, Min said the group is likely to pick the preferred bidder for Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. next week. “As the review process is likely to take more time, we can select the preferred bidder next week,” he said. Three overseas buyers have submitted bids for a 50-percent stake plus one share for the construction unit of liquidity-squeezed Kumho Asiana Group. Kumho Asiana has been in a severe cash crisis since it acquired Daewoo Engineering in 2006. It has to wrap up its stake sale in the builder by Dec. 15 under the purchase terms. Yonhap |
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