South Korea’s MBK Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in Asia, said it has raised $1.8 billion for its second special situations fund, MBK Partners SSF II (MBKP SSF II). The fund is more than double the size of its predecessor fund SSF I, which was launched in 2018 raising a total of $850 million.
SSF II is the largest Asian SSF in terms of closing size in the past three years, and the second largest in the past 16 years since the Korean private equity firm’s inception, an official from MBK Partners told The Korea Economic Daily. The firm’s SSF I is also ranked in the top eight Asian SSFs to date.
SSF II received investments from all major SS I investors and 17 global investors newly participated in the second fund. The investors include global pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and institutional investors from Korea and overseas, the official said. He added the investment through SSF II has already started, but declined to disclose the sectors for investment.
Since 2019, MBKP SS I’s investments include common shares, convertible preferred shares, senior or junior credits to more than 10 companies including Korea’s fried chicken franchise BHC, Korea’s online bank Kbank, China’s healthcare data company LinkDoc and Japan’s largest golf course chain Accordia Next Golf. The firm announced on November 16 that
it has sold the golf course chain to SoftBank’s Fortress Investment Group for 400 billion yen ($3.5 billion), creating over a threefold return for MBK Partners and the largest capital gain in Japan’s mergers and acquisitions market so far in 2021.
Including the Accordia deal, the SSF I fund has secured great performances including a multiple of equity of 1.9x (1.9 times the investment) and a 41.5% internal rate of return. MBK Partners said it has distributed a total of $1.8 billion, including co-investments, to its first SSF investors.
Founded in 2005, MBK Partners has $25.6 billion in capital under management. The private equity firm invests in North Asian markets – China, Japan and Korea – under buyouts and special situations strategies. The firm's headquarters are in Seoul with global offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo.
Write to Chang-Jae Yoo at
yoocool@hankyung.comJihyun Kim edited this article.
