TPG has hired Lee Seung-june from Goldman Sachs to help the private equity firm source deals in South Korea, according to people familiar with the move.
During Lee’s eight years at Goldman, the executive director focused on financial institutions as well on M&A.
TPG chalked up a spectacular success in the South Korean market with its investment in nationalised Korea First Bank (KFB), which it cleaned up after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
TPG acquired roughly half of KFB in 1999 for W500 billion and then more then doubled its money when it sold the bank onto Standard Chartered in 2005. TPG’s joint venture with Blum Capital, called Newbridge Capital, was responsible for the deal.
TPG shuttered its Korea office after selling KFB and a backlash against foreign funds making money on bailed out state assets gathered momentum.
Lee will remain in Hong Kong.
Since leaving Korea, TPG has cooperated with a local buyout fund called Vogo Investment Group to keep an eye on developments in Korea. Vogo’s managing partner Byung Moo Park was the Korea country head at TPG Newbridge Capital. Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) invested $300 million in one of TPG’s funds.
To be sure, TPG’s focus in Asia Pacific remains on the higher-growth markets of China and India. It plans to focus mainly on mid-market deals in Korea, as mega-deals in Korea have become very competitive and expensive, fuelled by an abundance of cheap funding.
In March Carlyle agreed to acquire the Korean security business ADT Korea for $1.93 billion – the biggest buyout in the country since 2008.
