Barclays PLC of London will apparently not bid for a controlling stake in LG Card Co., South Korea’s second-largest credit card issuer, creditors arranging the sale said Wednesday.
“They didn’t show up for the presentation and interview with LG Card management this morning,” said Kim Jin Taek, a spokesman for Korea Development Bank. “We interpret this as their intention to bow out of the bid.”
A Barclays spokesman, Alistair Smith, said in a telephone interview in London, “We never confirmed or denied we were in the bidding, and it would be inappropriate to comment further.” Chief executive officer John Varley said May 15 that Barclays, the United Kingdom’s third-biggest banking company by market value, does not need acquisitions to boost earnings.
LG Card has 10 million customers. Creditors that owned a combined 81.87% stake at yearend are seeking to recoup money they have spent bailing it out. Bids will be accepted for 51% to 72%, and it is estimated that the sale could fetch $4.7 billion.
The other five companies said to have been interested — Standard Chartered PLC of London as well as Korea’s Shinhan Financial Group Ltd. and Hana Financial Group Inc. and two other bidders — all came to the presentation, the LG Card spokesman said.
A Standard Chartered spokes-man, Sean Farrell, said in London, “We’ve said that we’ve expressed an interest in LG Card.” A spokesman for Shinhan, Kang Hyun Woo, said it is still participating in the bidding. Neither would elaborate.
A spokesman for Hana, Lee Jeong Dae, said he did not know whether it had participated in Wednesday’s presentation.
