| Hana Financial Group's headquarters in central Seoul / Korea Times file |
By Kim Bo-eun
Hana Financial Group and a couple of private equity funds have submitted bids to take over Lotte Card, according to news reports, Friday.
Private equity funds such as MBK Partners and Hahn & Company have handed in their acquisition proposals that included their plans for employment and investment.
Also, they included forecast analyses on synergy effects following the potential takeover of the credit card company.
Lotte did not disclose anything about the potential deals.
But reports say Lotte Group may announce the preferred bidder in the coming weeks. After the announcement, the bidder could sign a stock purchase soon after, and then conduct due diligence.
The complete takeover could take place in July or August, depending on when the Financial Services Commission gives final approval.
Lotte Card's lead manager is Citigroup Global Markets, a broker of Citigroup, and the asking price for the card unit is around 1.5 trillion won ($1.32 billion).
Hana Financial has been showing its strong commitment to buy the card firm to boost its nonbanking business.
Hana has reportedly proposed the highest bid price.
KEB Hana Card is the seventh largest card firm by profits.
If Hana acquires Lotte Card, and merges it with KEB Hana Card, the new entity would be the third largest. Shinhan Card and Samsung Card are the top two players.
Hanwha Group, which had shown interest in Lotte Card, has dropped out of the bidding at the last minute, according to news reports.