KKR's China private equity heads to spin out

KKR announced the impending departures alongside several new appointments. The changes come as the private equity firm prepares to launch its third pan-regional fund, which has a target of between $6 billion and $7 billion.

Liu and Wolhardt joined KKR in 2006 from Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia. They have been involved in deals such as China Modern Dairy, Fujian Sunner Development, Far East Horizon and COFCO Meat. They will transition to advisors at the beginning of 2017. Ming Lu, who was co-head of Asia private equity alongside Liu, is now sole head. He will also serve as interim head of China until a successor is appointed.

Meanwhile, KKR has expanded its Asia leadership team with four new hires in Singapore, China and South Korea. As previously reported, Ashish Shastry, managing partner at Indonesia-focused Northstar Group, will join the firm later this year. He has been with Northstar since 2011, having previously served as head of Southeast Asia at TPG Capital.

Zhen Ji, formerly managing director at CITIC Capital, has joined the China team as managing director, while Rob Yang has also been appointed managing director and head of real estate for Greater China. In South Korea, Hyoung Seok Lim, who previously worked at McKinsey & Company and LG Electronics, joins as a managing director, KKR said in a statement.

Since establishing its Asia platform in 2005, KKR has invested more than $10 billion in over 60 transactions across the region. It has seven offices in Asia with over 120 professionals as well as 15 operational executives at KKR Capstone.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• People
• Southeast Asia
• North Asia
• China
• Singapore
• South Korea
• KKR
• Appointments