Affinity, MBK submit initial bids for S.Korea’s KT Rental, says source – Reuters

(Reuters) – Asian private equity firms Affinity Equity Partners and MBK Partners are among the initial bidders to buy South Korea’s biggest car rental company KT Rental, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

KT Corp, South Korea’s second largest telecom company and the parent of KT Rental, put it up for sale in June in a deal expected to fetch around 600-800 billion won ($541-721 million).

In separate regulatory filings this week, South Korean companies SK Networks, GS Retail Co Ltd, Hyosung Corp, Hankook Tire Worldwide Co Ltd and SFA Engineering Corp all said they had also submitted initial bids.

The source said KT Rental received about 20 non-binding buy bids and a shortlist could be drafted as early as next week. The person declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

A KT spokesman declined comment. Affinity declined comment, and a spokesman for MBK could not immediately be reached for comment.