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Private equity firm Carlyle (CG) and KKR (KKR) won an auction for Discover Financial’s (NYSE:DFS) $10 billion student loan book.
The joint bid from the PE firms beat out a competing offer from Sixth Street, BlackRock (BLK) and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, with the loan book selling above par, according to a Financial Times report late Wednesday, which cited people familiar with the matter.
The auction also saw interest from Ares (ARES), Blackstone (BX) and Oaktree, according to the FT.
Discover (DFS) in late November said it’s considering selling its student loans portfolio.
The potential student loan portfolio sale comes as Discover (DFS) agreed to sell itself to Capital One (COF) for more than $35 billion in February.