MBK Partners

Founded in 2005 by Michael ByungJu Kim and other senior Asian executives from the Carlyle Group, MBK Partners has established itself as a leading private equity firm in North Asia. The firm operates offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo, focusing its investment activity primarily on China, Japan, and South Korea. In 2022, Blue Owl Capital (formerly Dyal Capital Partners) acquired a 12.5% stake in the firm.

The firm manages both flagship buyout funds and Special Situations funds, the latter of which provide capital solutions to companies with constrained financing access due to market cycles or structural inefficiencies. MBK Partners achieved a milestone in 2017 by taking ING Life Insurance Korea public, marking the first time a company owned by a private equity fund listed on the South Korean stock exchange.

In recent years, the firm has been active in large-scale acquisitions across various sectors, including the $1.5 billion purchase of Godiva Chocolatier's Asia-Pacific operations and a bid for management control of Korea Zinc. However, the firm has also faced challenges, notably the court-supervised rehabilitation of its portfolio company Homeplus in 2025, which led to legal scrutiny regarding bond sales prior to the filing.