Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Company KKR yesterday announced that it is to pay $1.8 billion to acquire Korean beer-maker Oriental Breweries OB from Anheuser-Busch InBev.
For Korea this deal sends a signal that the country is open for leveraged buyout business.
There has been a lot of negative sentiment towards investments in Korea by private equity funds, so there was a great deal of scepticism regarding whether it would be possible to acquire such an iconic asset, says a source close to the deal.
Sources say that KKR was able to win the bid by hitting the right trigger points with the seller InBev was primarily looking for a buyer that could provide...