MBK reaches first close of $1.25b on Fund III

MBK Partners III will follow a similar strategy to its predecessor, focusing on control transactions in North Asia, specifically South Korea, China and Taiwan. The Seoul-based GP, which was set up by Michael Kim, former president of Carlyle Asia, raised $1.6 billion for its second fund, reaching a final close in 2009. The debut fund closed at $1.56 billion three years earlier.

MBK now has $5.4 billion in assets under management across the three funds. LPs in its first two vehicles are said to include public pension funds such as Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, sovereign funds like Temasek Holdings and fund-of-funds such as Asia Alternatives Management.

As of September, Fund I had generated a realized gross IRR of 34.2% and a realized multiple of 2.9x. Recent exits include Singapore-listed Chinese pharmaceuticals firm Luye Pharma and Taiwan cable TV company CNS, although the latter is pending final regulatory approval.

Fund II has made one partial exit so far - KT Rental, an auto rental business it carved out of beleaguered Korean conglomerate Kumho Asiana in partnership with Korea Telecom - with a realized IRR of 30.4% and a multiple of 1.8x.

Earlier this month MBK's acquisition of a controlling stake in water purifier manufacturer Woongjin Coway for KRW1.2 trillion ($1.1 billion) appeared to be back on track after a South Korea court approved the transaction despite the seller, Woongjin Holdings, entering bankruptcy proceedings.

A number of pan-Asian funds are currently in the market, including those launched by KKR, TPG Capital, The Carlyle Group, RRJ Capital and Affinity Equity Partners.

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• North Asia
• MBK Partners
• Fundraising
• South Korea
• China