Private equity firm MBK Partners is on the verge of sealing its largest deal yet -- the purchase of Tesco’s Korean discount retail chain.
MBK and its partner Korea’s National Pension Service are leading the field of bidders vying for Tesco's Homeplus, the second-largest chain of stores in Korea after E-Mart, according to a person involved in the auction.
Other suitors include a consortium of KKR and Affinity Equity Partners and Carlyle which had teamed up with Sinagapore's GIC.
Britain’s Tesco has been shopping Homeplus for about $6 billion. MBK would secure leverage and only pay a fraction of that with equity...