KKR Asia head Joe Bae to move back to US

KKR told investors that Bae would relocate to New York so that his children may enroll in middle school in September. He will have a base of operations in Hong Kong as well as an office in New York, according to a memo sent to LPs in the firm's two Asia funds.

Last year, KRR restructured its leadership team in the region as several senior executives assumed additional responsibilities. David Liu and Ming Lu, heads of KKR in China and Southeast Asia, respectively, were appointed co-heads of Asia private equity, while India head Sanjay Nayar also took responsibility for regional credit and capital markets offerings.

In addition, Scott Bookmyer left his role as Asia head of Capstone, which works with KKR portfolio companies on operational improvements, to become the firm's COO in the region. This management structure remains in place.

KKR started sending Bae on fact-finding missions to Asia in 2004 and he formally started operations the following year. "The growth dynamics were clear. Across our global portfolio companies, there were already about 40 manufacturing facilities on the ground here," he told AVCJ in a 2012 interview. "The question was how do you take advantage of that opportunity as a PE investor and build a sustainable franchise?"

KKR now has more than 120 executives based in seven offices across the region, and its business stretches beyond private equity into areas such as credit, energy, real estate and capital markets. A debut Asia private equity fund, with a corpus of $4 billion, was raised in 2008 and it was joined by a $1 billion China growth fund in 2010. In 2013, the firm closed its second pan-regional fund at $6 billion.

KKR has made over 40 PE investments, representing in excess of $8 billion of invested capital. So far this year agreements have been struck to buy GE Capital's Australia and New Zealand consumer lending unit for A$8.2 billion ($6.3 billion) as part of an investor consortium, and a controlling stake in in South Korean mobile e-commerce company Ticket Monster for $360 million alongside Anchor Equity Partners.

Completed investments include an acquisition of Japanese electronics manufacturer Pioneer Corporation's DJ equipment division, and a $400 million commitment to China-based chicken producer Fujian Sunner Development.

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• Topics
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• Joseph Y. Bae
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