Carlyle sees big buyouts in Korea after largest since 2008

Carlyle Group LP, which completed South Korea’s biggest private-equity buyout in five years, sees more large transactions as the nation sustains its economic growth amid emerging-market turbulence.

The buyout firm, the Asian investments of which span budget hotels to injectable drugs, agreed to buy Tyco International Ltd.’s fire-alarm business in Korea for $1.93 billion earlier this month.

Preqin Ltd. data show buyouts backed by private equity rose 65 percent to $4.3 billion in 2013, the most since at least 2008, including forays by MBK Partners Ltd. into hiking gear and H&Q Asia Pacific Inc. into online recruiting.

Asia’s fourth-largest economy offers buyout opportunities as President Park Geun Hye accelerates state-asset sales and the nation’s biggest business groups, known as chaebol, offload underperforming businesses. Gross domestic product is forecast by the Bank of Korea to grow 3.8 percent in 2014, the fastest pace since 2010, even as expansion in India and China slows. (Bloomberg)