A consortium led by global private equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd. has submitted a final bid to acquire a full stake in ADT Caps Co., South Korea’s second-largest security services provider, in a deal estimated to be about 3 trillion won ($2.82 billion).

According to multiple sources from the investment bank industry on Monday, private equity firm Carlyle Group and its sales advisor Morgan Stanley received a final bid from the CVC Capital Partners-led consortium.

Australia’s financial services provider Macquarie, which has been considered another leading contender, is expected to join the race later this week after it requested more time for review before it submits a bid. The investment bank industry has been betting that one of the biggest merger and acquisition deals in Korea would be tightly contested by the CVC consortium and Macquarie.

Carlyle Group plans to select a preferred bidder by the end of this month at the earliest after reviewing purchasing conditions.

U.K.-based CVC Capital Partners formed a consortium for the bid with Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. The consortium has been considered a strong contender for the Korean security service firm as CVC Capital Partners is led by Chung Myung-hoon who played a crucial role when Carlyle Group purchased ADT Caps from Tyco International Inc. in 2014.

Carlyle Group bought ADT Caps in 2014 for about 2 trillion won. In 2015, ADT Caps raised 135.8 billion won in operating income, but based on ADT Caps’ earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for last year estimated at nearly 300 billion won, the sale price is expected to reach about 3 trillion won.

By Han Woo-ram and Lee Eun-joo

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