A fascinating article in the FT describes the fantastic rise of private equity in South Korea and profiles MBK Partners.
Founded by Michael Byung Ju Kim, MBK Partners established itself in Seoul.
Seventeen years later, Kim’s private equity firm MBK Partners is sitting on $25.6bn of assets under management — an annual increase of 29 per cent since it was founded shortly after his conversation with Ho. Its sale of a 12.5 per cent stake to New York-based Dyal Capital earlier this year valued the company at $10bn — equivalent to publicly listed TPG, America’s fifth-largest PE firm.
Per the article, capital markets have developed substantially in the decades following the Asian financial crisis of 1997. Per the head of Goldman Sach’s investment banking division in Asia ex-Japan:
“The financing is there, the conglomerates are restructuring, and you have a lot of family-owned businesses going through succession. As a result, the country has become a magnet for private equity — it’s one of the best-kept secrets in Asia.”
Click on the link below for a fascinating read.