MBK Partners

Investment decisions are led by Co-CEOs Jay Bu and In-Taek Hwang, who assumed day-to-day management responsibilities in 2018. Founder Michael B. Kim remains Chairman and is involved in strategic fund direction but has delegated deal-committee authority to the co-CEO partnership. This structure was adopted to ensure generational continuity and to embed principal-level decision-making within the firm's Seoul, Tokyo, and Shanghai deal teams.

MBK sources proprietary transactions through deep government and chaebol relationships in Korea — particularly corporate divestitures and restructuring mandates — and through direct engagement with Japanese corporations undergoing “keiretsu” unwinding. In Greater China, the firm relies on a dedicated on-the-ground team focused on take-private and founder-succession transactions. MBK's long-standing LP relationships with sovereign wealth funds and public pension systems in each market also provide co-investment deal flow.

MBK's core is control-oriented buyout and growth equity across Korea, Japan, and Greater China. Beyond traditional buyouts, the firm actively participates in complex carve-outs, government-mandated divestitures, public-to-private transactions, and direct secondary portfolio acquisitions. MBK has also raised dedicated special situations capital to invest in distressed assets and corporate restructurings, giving it the flexibility to deploy across the capital structure in its target markets.

MBK Partners has cultivated a concentrated LP base of approximately 150 global institutions, including sovereign wealth funds, public pension plans, endowments, and family offices. Strategic early backers included Temasek Holdings, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, and the Korea National Pension Service. The firm maintains long-standing co-investment relationships, including a dedicated mandate with CPP Investments for Asian corporate carve-outs (per the firm's official communications, 2021).

MBK's fund sizes have grown from $1.6 billion in Fund I (2005) to $14 billion for Fund VI (2023), reflecting both increasing institutional conviction and a rising addressable market for control buyouts in North Asia. The $14 billion Fund VI enables MBK to write equity checks in the $500 million to $1.5 billion range for majority stakes, while still reserving capital for smaller complex carve-outs and bolt-on acquisitions. This scale makes MBK a direct competitor to global mega-funds for large-cap North Asian assets (per Reuters, December 2023).

MBK predominantly targets mature, cash-flow-generating businesses suitable for buyout, capital restructuring, or control-oriented growth equity. While its core activity is mid-to-large-cap buyout, the firm also executes late-stage growth investments in consolidating sectors, management buyouts, and spin-offs from larger corporations. MBK is not a venture capital firm and does not make minority early-stage startup investments.

MBK Partners is not a family office and has no single underlying wealth origin. It is an independent institutional asset manager founded by Michael Kim, with capital sourced entirely from third-party limited partners. The firm is owned by its senior partners and does not operate as a captive vehicle for any founding family, sovereign entity, or corporate parent.