Lone Star, the US buyout group, may sell out of Korea Exchange Bank through block share sales, the Korean lender’s chief executive said Thursday, as attempts to sell the bank to HSBC continue to face regulatory hurdles. However, Richard Wacker, head of KEB, said this was a last resort and that Lone Star still hoped its planned $6.3bn deal to sell the bank to HSBC could be completed this month. Lone Star has been trying to sell KEB, bought for $1.2bn in 2003, for more than two years but has faced legal challenges over the way it acquired the distressed bank. HSBC, which signed the deal to buy KEB nine months ago, has said it will walk away if regulatory approval is not given by the time the contract expires at the end of this month.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 5:12 and is filed under M&A, Private equity. Tagged with hsbc, KEB, lone star. Edit this entry.