Carlyle Group, MBK Partners Look at Taiwan Bank

Filed in archive Private Equity on April 20, 2008

Two private equity funds, the Carlyle Group and MBK Partners, are in discussions to obtain a 25 percent stake in Sunny Bank. The small investment bank is in Taiwan. Reuters is reporting on the story.

Acording to the Reuters report, Sunny Bank is not publicly traded. It has more than 80 branches on the island and around US$9.9 billion in assets. Both PE funds are already active in Taiwan and Carlyle was involved in a deal last year that took a 35 percent stake in Taiwan's Ta Chong Bank.


© leonghimwoh




The Reuters report was based on a Chinese language article in Commercial Times. None of the major players have commented publicly yet and no time table for the deal has been worked out.

Reuters pointed out that Taiwan's banking industry, the fourth-biggest in Asia, has been "a hotbed of interest from private equity investors and global major banks such as Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and HSBC (0005.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), in part because banking stocks were cheaper than regional peers."