Unitas Capital's Korea team to spin out

They will depart on April 15, although some portfolio monitoring responsibilities will be retained. The change means Unitas' fourth fund - expected to launch at some point this year - will concentrate exclusively on cross-border and China opportunities.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the decision is in part personal. Suh and Lee, CIO and partner at Unitas, respectively, are both keen to settle in Korea. They will join a small but growing number of independent GPs in the country's buyout space, which has delivered substantial deal flow in dollar terms in recent years.

Unitas raised $1.59 billion for its second pan-Asian fund in 2005 and all the investments have been fully exited. In Fund III, which closed at $1.2 billion in 2008, all but one of the investments - and all the remaining portfolio companies - are China control deals or non-Asian companies that were bought with a view to expanding their presence in the region. These are often industrial businesses with a strong China focus.

Across both funds, Unitas has completed six China buyouts and five cross-border deals. An exit from one of the latter was completed in January 2014 when Unitas and CCMP Capital sold specialist vacuum products developer Edwards Group to Sweden's Atlas Copco for $1.6 billion, generating a 3.5x return. During the ownership period, Asia consolidated its position as the primary sales driver.

Following the departure of Suh, Lee and the Korea team, there will be 16 investment professionals based in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

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