Carlyle poaches Affinity MD to head up Korea operations
The Carlyle Group has appointed Sanghyun Lee as managing director with responsibility for the private equity firm’s South Korean investment activities. Lee joints from Affinity Equity Partners, where he also served as Korea-focused managing director. He will continue to be based in Seoul.
Lee led Affinity into a number of transactions, including TheFaceShop, South Korea's third-largest cosmetics brand. The private equity firm reportedly paid $60 million for the asset in 2005 and exited it to LG Household in November 2009 for $364 million. Affinity also doubled its money on consumer electronics retailer Himart in just two years, selling the company for $2.1 billion in 2007.
Prior to joining Affinity, Lee was in charge of Korea private equity investment for Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC) and a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.
"This key hire reflects our strong commitment to invest in Korea. We are very pleased that Lee has joined our team to lead and expand our investment activities in Korea," X.D. Yang, managing director and co-head of Carlyle Asia Partners, said in a statement.
Carlyle Asia's past investments in South Korea include KorAm Bank, Hyundai Communications and Network.
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