SYDNEY, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Private equity firms Kohlberg
Kravis Roberts
The pair are yet to decide whether to proceed either together or separately, the newspaper said in its online Dealbook.
In 2007, KKR and TPG [TPG.UL] united to take Texas-based Energy Future Holdings, formerly TXU, private in the largest leveraged buy out ever.
The latest talks come after Foster's rejected a private equity offer this month worth up to $2.5 billion for its underperforming wine business, saying the bid was too cheap. It did not identify the name of the bidder. [ID:nSGE6860KK].
Foster's wants to continue with plans to separate its beer and wine businesses, with top brands including Penfold's, Beringer and Wolf Blass, after spending around A$7 billion ($6.6 billion) buying wine assets at the top of the market.
The wine business, rebranded as Treasury Wine Estates, is seen as attractive to buyout firms because of depressed earnings at the weak point of the wine-making cycle, and strong brands.
TPG had held about 55 percent of Beringer with some partners when it sold to Foster's in 2000.
Last year KKR bought the South Korean subsidiary of
Oriental Brewery from Anheuser-Busch InBev
(Reporting by Miranda Maxwell; Editing by Mark Bendeich)