Carlyle nears deal to buy Korea's Tyco unit - report

According to the Korea Economic Daily, Carlyle beat out other private equity firms such as Affinity Equity Partners and KKR to buy the business for around 1.7 trillion won ($1.58 billion).

Bain Capital - which is said to have teamed up South Korean private-equity firm Hahn & Co - and IMM Private Equity were also understood to be among those previously shortlisted by Tyco as potential buyers while CVC Capital Partners was reported to have entered a preliminary bid.

US-headquartered Tyco first acquired a 68.5% stake in ADT Caps - then simply Caps - in 1999 and delisted it from Korea's Kosdaq market. It acquired the rest of the company later that year.

The divestment comes at a time when the US security conglomerate is undergoing extensive restructuring. Last year, Tyco spun out its North American security unit - ADT - while merging its valve manufacturing busines - Flow Control - with industrial conglomerate Pentair.

Tyco is the latest in a series of multinational firms seeking to divest Korean assets. Last year, ING, which is required to sell off its Asian business as part of a post-global financial crisis bailout, sold its Korean life insurance unit to MBK Partners for $1.67 billion.

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• Topics
• Technology
• North Asia
• Buyouts
• South Korea
• The Carlyle Group
• Technology
• buyout