RoK Telecom preferred broadband bidder

South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom was named Wednesday as the preferred bidder for Hanaro Telecom, the nation's second-largest broadband service provider, officials said. "SK Telecom was selected today as preferred bidder," the sale's manager Goldman Sachs said in a statement.
Hanaro's largest shareholder, a consortium comprising American International Group and Newbridge Capital, has been looking for a buyer for its 39.36 percent stake valued at 900 billion won (986 million dollars).
SK Telecom, which has just over half of the local mobile phone market, said the acquisition would help it diversify and strengthen its competitiveness in both mobile and fixed-line markets. "We hope the acquisition will strenghten our position in both markets," SK Telecom spokeswoman Kim Hye-Jin told AFP.