The Carlyle Group enters talks to buy Korean security unit

The private equity firm The Carlyle Group has entered into exclusive talks to buy Tyco International’s Korean security systems unit, a business valued at around $2 billion, two sources told Reuters on yesterday.

A successful sale of the unit, ADT Caps, would be the second large private equity transaction in Korea this year, after KKR & Co and Affinity’s $5.8 billion sale of Oriental Brewery to Anheuser-Busch InBev SA.

Tyco put the unit up for sale last year, attracting bids from private equity firms including Affinity Equity Partners, Bain Capital, Carlyle Group, KKR and South Korea’s MBK Partners, Reuters previously reported.

The company had earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of about $160 million as of the end of September 2013. The business is expected to fetch between 10 and 12 times that figure, sources told Reuters.

Established in 1971, ADT Caps offers central monitoring, access control, video surveillance control and other integrated security services. Morgan Stanley is advising Tyco on the asset sale. Carlyle and ADT Caps declined to comment. Sources declined to be identified as the information is not public.

Reuters