Credit Suisse promotes two MDs in Seoul

Credit Suisse Group AG has appointed two South Koreans as new managing directors (MD) for its Seoul office. Shim Jong-min and Kim Sei-won were promoted to the MD positions on Dec. 15.

The promotion of Shim, born in 1981, is seen as a breath of fresh air in the management of the investment bank. He has more than 15 years of experience in investment banking, including leading major mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings of some Korean corporates.   

One of his major deals is a sale of Korea’s second-largest carrier Asiana Airlines Inc. to Hanjin Group, owner of Korea’s No.1 carrier Korean Air Lines Co., last year. After Asiana’s current owner Kumho Industrial Co. failed to sell the carrier to the HDC Hyundai Development Co. consortium, Korean Air Line acquired Asiana for 2.5 trillion won  ($2.1 billion). Shim successfully completed the deal and proved his competency, IB industry sources said.

His other deals include Korean city gas supplier SK E&S Co.’s new preferred share sales, worth 2.4 trillion won, to KKR & Co. He also led Korean Air’s in-flight business sales, worth 900 billion won, to Korean private equity firm Hahn & Company last year, beauty store chain CJ Olive Young’s pre-IPO placement valued at 400 billion won last year, Hyundai Department Store’s sale of shares in its cable TV subsidiary Hyundai HCN for 500 billion won and IMM PE’s acquisition of a 71.51% stake in Taihan Electric Wire Co., Korea’s No. 2 electric wire manufacturer, for around 300 billion won in 2015.

Shim also led the IPO of KakaoBank Corp., Korea’s first listed internet-only bank, which made its trading debut in August with a market capitalization of 33 trillion won. 

He started his IB career in Macquarie Group in 2007 after graduating from New York University Stern School of Business. Shim worked for Nomura Securities between 2009 and 2014 and started working for the Switzerland-headquartered IB in 2014.

The other new MD, Kim Sei-won, led Korean conglomerate SK Group’s $1 billion investment in Vietnam’s VinGroup in 2019 and $340 million investment in The CrownX, a retail platform of Vietnam's Masan Group Corp., in November of this year. Kim also managed Doosan Group’s restructuring deals, a combined 1.2 trillion won, including the sale of Doosan Corporation Mottrol and Doosan Infracore Co. last year.

He also led Credit Suisse’s advisory role when Carlyle Group purchased $200 million worth of exchangeable bonds into shares in KB Financial Group in 2020, as well as leading the August IPO of Krafton, Korea’s major game developer. 

Kim studied psychology at Yonsei University of Korea and previously worked for UBS Securities LLC and make-up and fashion brand Stylenanda, where he served as the chief financial officer. His career has ranged from domestic and overseas private equity management to startup and conglomerate business management. 

Write to Chae-Yeon Kim at why29@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.