A few months ago, US electronics maker Tyco put its ADT Korea unit up for auction. The bidding for Tyco Fire & Security Services Korea was fierce, with private equity investors and small Korean domestic funds combining with each other to muster enough capital to make a credible offer. Domestic banks were also happy to provide bidders with record amounts of debt. That is why, when Carlyle won, it paid almost $2bn for a company with an operating income of around $125m.
几个月前，美国电子产品制造商泰科(Tyco)将旗下韩国业务部门ADT Korea挂牌出售。对Tyco Fire & Security Services Korea的竞购相当激烈，私人股本投资者和韩国国内小型基金纷纷联合，以募集足够多的资金，提出一份可信的报价。韩国国内银行也很高兴向竞购者提供创纪录的债务。这就是为什么最终竞购成功的凯雷(Carlyle)花了近20亿美元才买下一家营运利润约为1.25亿美元的公司。
“Everyone went nuts when this deal came along,” one bidder recalls. It helped that the last major deal in Korea was KKR’s purchase of Oriental Brewery five years ago – on which the private equity group made more than five times its money. ADT was also the biggest deal in Korea since 2008.
一位竞购者回忆道：“当这笔交易出现时，大家都疯了。”韩国上一次大规模收购交易是5年前KKR收购韩国东洋啤酒公司(Oriental Brewery)——KKR从这笔投资赚得5倍多的回报——这也助长了各方的收购热情。ADT交易也是韩国自2008年以来规模最大的一笔交易。
A few days ago, KKR also bought a stake in Koreit, a Korean company that provides services for real estate developers, from a distressed seller. But, in contrast to the frenzy around ADT, this was a smaller deal that attracted far less attention and competition. And while Korean banks were happy to provide debt for ADT, they appear to have very little appetite for real estate these days.
几天前，KKR还从一家陷入困境的卖家手中，购入了为房地产开发商提供服务的韩国企业Koreit的部分股权。但相对于围绕ADT的热潮，那笔交易规模较小，吸引的关注和竞争也少得多。而且，尽管韩国各银行乐意为ADT提供债务，但如今它们似乎对房地产没什么兴趣。