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HSBC faces new Korea buy delay
Bill Condie, Evening Standard29.04.08
HSBC may have to delay its tortuous battle to take over Korea Exchange Bank, as the $6.2 billion (£3.1 billion) deal remains mired in a criminal investigation.
The bank's self-imposed deadline for wrapping up the acquisition from US buyout group Lone Star is tomorrow. Some reports say the pair have agreed to extend the deadline in the hopes the South Koreans, desperate for new foreign investment, try to conclude the probe.
It centres on Lone Star's purchase of KEB in 2003. It has already cost the fund one buyer - Kookmin Bank, whose deal fell apart in November 2006.
The matter had been thought settled shortly after Paul Yoo, head of Lone Star's South Korean operations, was jailed in February for five years for manipulating the stock price of the bank's credit-card unit to acquire it cheaply.
There are signs the government will finally act to settle the matter. The issue was raised during a recent visit to the US by Korean President Lee Myung Bak.
