MBK Partners has put on hold its plan to sell its 59.19% stake in ING Life Insurance Korea, Ltd. (KOSE:A079440) after two candidates pulled out of the estimated $2.3 billion deal. KB Financial Group Inc. (KOSE:A105560) planned to notify MBK Partners of its decision to withdraw its bid on June 5, 2018. "We've considered acquiring ING Life, but KB Financial doesn't have plans to adhere to the spend-it-or-lose-it philosophy.

MBK Partners is asking KB to pay more in exchange for getting the management rights of ING Life and that's beyond our budget," a KB official said. KB Financial is the latest company to confirm it has abandoned the bid for ING Life. Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd. (KOSE:A055550) had negotiated with MBK Partners as it wanted a head start in the non-banking business for portfolio diversification, but the talks failed due to differences in the valuation of ING Life.

As the sale has been stalled, MBK Partners is activating its remedies to investors in the fund as it provided returns to investors by activating "capital recapitalization" using its holdings in ING Life as collateral. "Financial advisers at MBK met with investors and briefed them about the latest developments surrounding the ING Life deal. The presentation won majority backing, though I believe this is only temporary support.

MBK plans to close the ING Life deal according to its plan in a way to mask previous weaknesses for deals in which it failed to get higher returns," the executive said.