Dongbu Group inks deal to buy Daewoo Electronics

South Korean conglomerate Dongbu Group signed a contract to take over Daewoo Electronics Corp. on Tuesday, ending a decade-long search for a buyer for the country’s No. 3 electronics firm.

The group said its consortium inked the deal with Daewoo Electronics creditors to purchase the appliance maker for 272.6 billion won ($256.4 million).

The move comes five months after Dongbu Group was tapped as the preferred bidder of Daewoo Electronics, a former unit of Daewoo Group, one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates before it collapsed in 1999.

In August, media reports had said Dongbu Group, Samla Midas Group and Sweden’s Electrolux AB submitted bids for the deal valued at more than 300 billion won.

The bidder selection came after five rounds of botched talks with potential buyers, including overseas companies and consortia such as Iran’s Entekhab Industrial and Morgan Stanley Private Equity.

With the acquisition, Dongbu Group Chairman Kim Jun-ki and the conglomerate’s electronics affiliates will hold a 51 percent stake, while financial investors will take the remaining 49 percent interest. The size of investment by each affiliate is set to be confirmed through a board meeting.

Dongbu Group employs 40,000 employees across 59 subsidiaries, with assets totaling US$60 billion, according to the group’s Web site. (Yonhap News)