SJL Partners

Chairman and Managing Partner Steve SJ Lim chairs the firm's Investment Committee and Operating Committee, directly overseeing strategy, origination, and portfolio management. His prior roles include leading CVC Capital Partners in Korea as chairman and serving as CEO of J.P. Morgan Korea, establishing a senior-level network that drives the firm's cross-border sourcing.

Each investment pairs a North American or European target with a Korean strategic partner — for example, silica-products firm Momentive Technologies with Wonik QnC in 2019, and battery-materials startup Nexeon with SKC in 2022 and 2025. The partner typically brings operational expertise and co-investment capital, positioning SJL as the architect and facilitator of the cross-border consortium.

SJL's platform accommodates both growth equity and buyout situations. Its position in Nexeon began with a 2022 investment during the company's scale-up phase — two years before Panasonic signed a supply agreement for silicon anode materials — and was extended with a second investment in 2025 as the company commissioned its first volume production plant in South Korea.

The firm's disclosed portfolio concentrates on industrial and materials-adjacent sectors: chemicals (Momentive Performance Materials and Momentive Technologies), battery technology (Nexeon), life sciences (Meridian Bioscience), and digital infrastructure (DayOne Data Centers). There is no indication of technology-software, consumer-internet, or financial-services exposure in the public record.

Operating partners based in Chicago and New York provide post-acquisition support, drawing on careers that include CVC Capital Partners' Asia operations leadership and senior roles at Honeywell, General Electric, and Booz Allen & Hamilton. Operating partner Tony Han sits on the boards of Momentive Performance Materials and Momentive Technologies, embedding industrial expertise directly at the portfolio-company level.

The firm explicitly states its focus on cross-border investments in North America and Europe, executed from its Seoul headquarters. Published portfolio company locations include the United States (Momentive entities, Meridian Bioscience), the United Kingdom (Nexeon), and Singapore (DayOne Data Centers), confirming a trans-Pacific deal pattern anchored by a single allocating office in Korea.

Steve SJ Lim was Chair of CVC Capital Partners Korea and a member of CVC's Asia Executive Committee and Asia Board before founding SJL. Operating partner Tony Han also served as a partner and head of the Asia Operations Team at CVC. The relationship is biographical — there is no public indication of an ongoing institutional tie, co-investment vehicle, or capital link between SJL and CVC.