The creditors looking to sell up to 72% of South Korea's second largest credit card issuer LG Card have hinted that they could choose a winning bidder by as early as next week, the Financial Times has reported.
The revelation from the UK financial media outlet is apparently based on sources ‘familiar’ with the matter and comes just hours after final bids were submitted.
Despite early interest from a number of overseas firms, including Standard Chartered, in the end only three domestic players tendered official final bids for the $5 billion valued LG Card.
South Korean financial services companies Shinhan Finanical, Hana Financial and the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation have submitted formal bids to buy a majority share in the card issuer, according to lead creditor Korea Development Bank (KDB). Fourteen creditors holding 82% of the credit card issuer, which has ten million customers, are offering a stake of between 51% and 72%.