KT Capital, a unit of South Korean fixed and mobile operator KT Corp., is looking to buy PE firm Vogo Fund’s 30.68% stake in BC Card, the country’s largest credit card company, TelecomFinance has confirmed.
A spokesperson for KT explained that talks…
KT Capital, a unit of South Korean fixed and mobile operator KT Corp., is looking to buy PE firm Vogo Fund’s 30.68% stake in BC Card, the country’s largest credit card company, TelecomFinance has confirmed.
A spokesperson for KT explained that talks between the two companies are currently ongoing but declined to comment on the value of a potential deal or the advisers that might have been hired.
This confirmation comes just a month after KT said it acquired a 20% stake in BC Card from Woori Bank. The company also bought a 13.85% stake held by Shinhan Card, another credit card company, to become the largest shareholder in BC Card with a 35.83% stake. KT already had a 1.98% interest in BC Card, bought from Citibank.
If the deal with Vogo is successful, KT will own approximately 70% of the credit card company.
Back in February, the telco added that it was negotiating with Busan Bank, which owns 4.03% of BC Card, to acquire part of its shares in the company.
Since October, KT has been rumoured to be pressing ahead with stake acquisitions in order to increase its exposure to convergence between the telecoms and banking sectors. However, according to reports, valuation issues delayed deals.
In a statement released in mid-February, Dong-hyeon Han, KT’s Strategic Investment Executive Director, said: “We are purchasing BC Card shares to promote the communication-banking convergence service, rather than for a card issuing service. We are going to create new customer values by exploring new services in the mobile banking service line.”
