SEOUL - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has completed due diligence to decide whether to bid for a majority stake in Korea Exchange Bank, South Korean media reported on Sunday.
ANZ finished the three-week inspection for the deal, worth about US$4 billion at current prices, on Friday and will make a decision by October at the earliest, online news provider EDaily quoted financial industry sources as saying.
US private equity firm Lone Star, which owns 51 percent of KEB, asked ANZ to conduct the due diligence on the South Korean bank, EDaily said.
"After the inspection, ANZ may offer a higher price than its previous offer of some 3 trillion won," EDaily quoted an unnamed official close to the sale as saying.
The official added Lone Star had given up selling the stake at about $6 billion long time ago, according to EDaily.
Officials from ANZ, KEB and Lone Star were not available for comments on the report.
Last month, three sources said ANZ was expected to decide by mid-October whether to bid for a majority stake in KEB.
If successful, the KEB deal will represent ANZ's biggest ever acquisition as Australia's No. 4 bank steps up its effort to become an Asia-focused regional bank, along the lines of HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered.
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