ANZ Banking Group Ltd
(ASX:ANZ) chief executive Mike Smith is back in Seoul as negotiations continue over whether or not his bank will buy a 57 per cent stake in Korea Exchange Bank.
Discussions with KEB are reportedly edging towards make or break stage.
Bank analysts deem KEB to be reasonable at about 1.1 times book value, creating a price tag of $4.7 billion.
But Lone Star, which owns 51 per cent of KEB is expecting $5 billion for its share alone, making the price equivalent to 1.35 times book value.
KoreaEximBank has also put 6 per cent of KEB up for sale, which will cost ANZ a total $5.6 billion.
Mike Smith is known for his record of disciplined acquisitions and economists forecast that he would be wary of paying too much.
For the financial year ended 30 September 2010, ANZ booked a net profit of $4.5 billion.
