Goldman taps TPG Korea's Lee as Seoul office PE head

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is set to hire Lee Seung-june, managing director at US investment firm TPG's Seoul office, as Goldman Sachs' private equity head in South Korea to spur its PE investments and client relationships in the country.

Lee recently decided on the move to Goldman Sachs and has submitted a resignation letter to TPG, according to investment banking sources on Oct. 20.  

He is expected to expand investments in Korea via Goldman Sachs’ funds including West Street Capital Partners VIII. The $9.7 billion fund that held a final close last month targets the upper mid-market with financial and business services, healthcare, consumer, tech and climate transition sectors.

Goldman Sachs has been looking for a new PE head of the Seoul office since former head Lee Jay-hyun transferred to Samsung Securities Co.’s IB unit in June this year.

Lee Seung-june started his financial career in 2000 as a consultant for accounting firm Samil PwC and worked for Citigroup Global Markets.

He worked at Goldman Sachs from 2006 to 2014, acting as an advisor to TPG in 2008 when it divested now-defunct Hanaro Telecom Inc. to SK Telecom Co. Hanaro was rebranded as SK Broadband Inc. after the sale.

He became a principal at TPG Seoul office in 2014 when the Texas-headquartered investment firm re-entered the Korean market. The firm withdrew from the country in 2008 soon after the sale of Hanaro Telecom.   

At TPG, he led major transactions such as the purchase of a 65% stake in Moleem Corp., the parent of Korea’s leading luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring company Nox Corp., for 360 billion won ($249.8 million) in 2017.

He also led the acquisition of a 100% stake in Korean dietary supplement maker Health Balance from Korean PE firm Anchor Equity Partners Ltd. in December 2019 for around 280 billion won.

Goldman Sachs has been slow to invest in Korea in recent years. The IB group’s latest deal was a 50 billion won injection with Korea’s SK Inc. in local cold chain solutions provider Belstar Superfreeze in 2020.

It has joined races for a controlling stake in Korean animal fat feedstock firm Daekyung O&T and a minority stake in Korean over-the-top (OTT) streaming service TVing Co., but neither of the deals has yet been closed.

Write to Jun-Ho Cha at chacha@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.