KB Financial Group Inc., South Korea's largest banking group by assets, will set up a task force to prepare for an upcoming preliminary bidding for KDB Daewoo Securities Co., the country's No. 2 brokerage, industry sources said Thursday.
  

The task force will be formed by next week and comprised of around 10 officials, including the company's brokerage and investment officials, and wealth management experts, according to the sources.
  

"Access into Daewoo Securities' detailed data is impossible before due diligence, so KB Financial has decided to form a task force to make thorough preparations ahead of a takeover," said one of the sources, asking for anonymity.
  

The state-run Korea Development Bank posted a bidding notice for KDB Daewoo Securities last week, putting a 43 percent stake in the brokerage house and a 100 percent one in KDB Asset Management Co. on sale. Prospective buyers are required to offer bids by Nov. 2.
  

The auction has attracted attention from the media and the local financial market due to the size of the deal as KDB Daewoo Securities is the country's second-largest brokerage house whose capital base stands at 4.3 trillion won ($3.76 billion).
 

Market watchers estimate the deals at as much as 2.3 trillion won.
  

KB Financial, which has a retail bank, and life and non-life insurance firms under its wing, is the odds-on favorite, with its capacity to secure funds to buy the package.
  

It has already picked two brokerage houses -- Morgan Stanley and KB Investment & Securities Co. -- as advisory agencies for a possible acquisition.
  

Following KB Financial, Mirae Asset Group, a leading asset management expertise firm, has expressed its strong will to take over KDB Daewoo Securities. Its brokerage unit, Mirae Asset Securities Co., decided to sell 1.2 trillion won worth of stock to raise money.    (Yonhap)