HONG KONG :South Korean's IMM Private Equity has drawn interest from funds including KKR & Co, MBK Partners and Brookfield Asset Management for a minority stake in local industrial gas company AirFirst which it aims to sell for $1 billion, three people with knowledge of the deal said. The buyout firm is expecting first-round, non-binding bids by March 16, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the information is confidential. IMM PE acquired the South Korean assets of German industrial gases group Linde for $1.2 billion in 2019 and rebranded the company as AirFirst.