Unison Korea targets $680m for Fund III

The first two funds closed on KRW 308bn and KRW 500bn in 2015 and 2019, respectively, with all the capital sourced from domestic LPs, including the National Pension Service of Korea (NPS). Korean LPs are expected to account for most of Fund III, but Unison is also approaching overseas investors, according to a source close to the situation. Unison did not respond to a request for comment.

The Korea business was established as an affiliate of Unison’s larger Japan operation. However, Unison Korea has fully functioning front office and back office teams, and it is increasingly run independently of Unison Japan. The latter is currently deploying its fifth fund.

The first Korea fund made six investments and four of them have been exited, resulting in distributions to paid-in (DPI) of 1.4x, the source added. Fund II made seven investments and has secured one partial exit to date.

Notable Fund I investments include Gong Cha, a bubble tea chain franchise that took over its parent and expanded from 10 outlets to 1,200 – including franchised and directly owned locations – across 17 countries. Unison acquired a 70% stake in the business for KRW 34bn in 2014 and exited to TA Associates at a valuation of almost KRW 400bn, suggesting a roughly 8x return.

Other exits include Gourmet F&B, a food importer and restaurant operator sold to LF Foods for more than twice the KRW 15bn Unison paid for it, and wedding services company Umoment/Apelgamo, which was created by merging two businesses and then sold to local GP Evergreen Advisors.

A sale process for Medit, a manufacturer of 3D dental scanners, is currently underway. Korean media reported that several global private equity firms are bidding for the asset, which is expected to fetch up to KRW 2.5trn-KRW 3trn. Unison acquired an approximately 50% stake in the business for KRW 320bn in 2019 and revenue is said to have grown 2.5x since then.

Unison Korea is led by three partners: Soomin Kim, formerly of Bain & Company and Goldman Sachs; Seung Woong Gwak, who previously worked for Bain and Stonebridge Capital; and Sunwha Shin, formerly of Goldman and McKinsey & Company.

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• Topics
• North Asia
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• South Korea
• Unison Capital
• Fundraising