KT Capital, a unit of fixed and mobile operator KT Corp., is looking to buy PE firm Vogo Fund’s 30.68% stake in leading credit card company BC Card, TelecomFinance has confirmed.
A spokesperson for KT explained that talks between the two companies are…
KT Capital, a unit of fixed and mobile operator KT Corp., is looking to buy PE firm Vogo Fund’s 30.68% stake in leading credit card company BC Card, 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.
A month ago, KT acquired a 20% stake in BC Card from Woori Bank and a 13.85% stake held by Shinhan Card, another credit card company, becoming the largest shareholder 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.
KT has been trying since October to increase its exposure to convergence between the telecoms and banking sectors, but valuation issues reportedly 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.”
