PRINT THIS PAGE Carlyle Group doubles its money on Korean Koram bank exit23/02/2004. Source: AltAssets. 
 US-based private equity firm the Carlyle Group has doubled it money on its investment in the Korean KorAm Bank by selling it to Citigroup.
Carlyle and JP Morgan Corsair II jointly acquired a 36.6 per cent stake in the business in 2000 for $446m, which they have agreed to sell as part of Citigroup's $2.73bn acquisition of the bank.
Michael ByungJu Kim, president of Carlyle Asia, said: 'The KorAm management team and employees have built a world-class financial institution, creating exceptional value for its customers and shareholders.'
Citigroup has been attracted to the bank as a way of rapidly increasing its foothold in Korea's financial services sector. KorAm is Korea's sixth largest commercial bank with more than 220 branches and assets of $36.8bn. The combination of the two parties' operations in the region will create the fifth largest financial business in Korea.
Private equity firms have been gradually building up their activities in Asia over the past 18 months after a fallow period following the region's financial crisis in the late 1990s. Carlyle is one of only a very small number of international groups to have raised a dedicated fund for Asia, the $750m Carlyle Asia Partners.
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