TIMELINE: Key events after Lone Star buys KEB in 2003

(Reuters) - HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) (0005.HK) says it has agreed to buy a 51.02 percent stake in Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) (004940.KS) for $6.3 billion in cash from U.S. private equity house Lone Star LS.UL.

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Following are events since Lone Star bought a 50.5 percent stake in KEB (004940.KS) for $1.2 billion in August 2003:

- Feb 28, 2004: KEB absorbs KEB Credit Service Co Ltd. Prosecutors will later charge Lone Star of manipulating the stock price of the card unit to lower the price.

- April 14, 2005: Lone Star and other foreign funds start to be investigated in South Korea over possible tax irregularities.

- Sept 29, 2005: The National Tax Service imposes more than $200 million in taxes on five foreign funds, including Lone Star, for their recent deals in South Korea.

- Feb 24, 2006: The regulatory Financial Supervisory Service says it will report Lone Star Advisors Korea and its affiliate Hudson Advisors Korea to prosecutors for alleged violations of foreign currency law.

- April 19, 2006: Lone Star Chairman John Grayken tells a news conference in Seoul that Steven Lee, former head of Lone Star's South Korean operations, has been fired for misappropriating funds and will be sued by the company.

- May 19, 2006: Kookmin Bank 060000.KS signs a deal worth as much as $7.3 billion to buy KEB from Lone Star and two other major shareholders.

- June 19, 2006: The Board of Audit and Inspection says Lone Star's 2003 purchase of KEB contained some flaws, but clears Lone Star of any impropriety, while leaving the door open to possible sanctions by prosecutors.

- Nov 6, 2006: Prosecutors arrest Lee Kang-won, who was KEB's chief executive at the time of the sale to Lone Star, on breach of trust and other charges.

- Nov 16, 2006: After several rejections, the Seoul Central District Court approves prosecutors' requests to seek extraditions for Lone Star Vice Chairman Ellis Short and general counsel Michael Thomson. Both have yet to travel to South Korea for questioning.

- Nov 20, 2006: South Korean prosecutors indict KEB and a unit of Lone Star on charges of unfair stock trading.

- Nov 23, 2006: Lone Star says it will end the agreement to sell KEB to Kookmin, citing the tussle with prosecutors.

- Dec 7, 2006: Prosecutors say Lone Star's purchase of KEB was illegal, saying the fund colluded with the lender to inflate the bank's losses, allowing Lone Star to pay around $900 million less than KEB was worth.

- Feb 2, 2007: Lone Star secures a $445 million payout from KEB after lender pays its first dividend in a decade.

- June 11, 2007: DBS Group (DBSM.SI) says ends talks to buy KEB from Lone Star, hinting at legal issues.

- June 22, 2007: Lone Star sells 13.6 percent stake in KEB, and disposes of builder Kukdong Engineering and Construction and leasing firm STARLease for a total $2.3 billion.

- Aug 20 - HSBC says it is in talks to buy a majority stake in KEB worth $4.8 billion from Lone Star.

- Aug 28 - South Korea's top financial regulator says again that it would not start the approval process for Lone Star's sale of KEB until a court ruling is made over the way Lone Star acquired South Korea's fifth largest bank.

- Sept 3 - HSBC says it had agreed to buy 51.02 percent of KEB for $6.3 billion cash from Lone Star, but it did not intend to make a tender offer to KEB's remaining shareholders.

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