Affirma Capital’s Korean MD Thomas Shim promoted to partner

Global private equity firm Affirma Capital has promoted Seoul-based Managing Director Min Hyun (Thomas) Shim to partner, investment banking sources told The Korea Economic Daily on Tuesday.

The Singapore-based investment firm named Shim its new global partner on June 19, sources said. It has marked Affirma’s first nomination of a new partner since the PE firm completed its management buyout of Standard Chartered Bank in 2019.

Shim joined Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) in 2009, which was rebranded Affirma after the buyout.

He worked at SK Telecom between 2005 and 2008 with a focus on restructuring, post-merger integration and executive assessment. Shim earned an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor of Arts from Korea University.

Shim has led major transactions worth $1.2 billion over the past 14 years. The firms include Korean waste management company EMC Holdings, which later became SK Ecoplant in Co., forklift maker Doosan Industrial Vehicle Co., rental firm AJ Networks Co., Samyang Packaging Corp. which was formerly Hyosung Group’s packaging unit, seasoned laver maker Sung Gyung Food Co., meat distributor Sunwoo Fresh Co. and makeup products firm Hwasung Cosmetics Co.

He also led Affirma’s acquisition of Kwangjin Chemical Co. for 250 billion won ($194.5 million), which wrapped up last month.

Shim successfully managed Affirma’s fifth blind pool fund, which closed at 543.5 billion won in 2021, and is leading the creation of the sixth blind fund targeting 700 billion won.

The sixth one is highly likely to receive a commitment from state-run Korea Development Bank, according to banking sources. Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) also picked the fund for possible investment, with other five local PE funds, earlier this month.

Affirma manages more than $3.5 billion in assets for global institutional investors. Including its track record at SCPE, it has invested in emerging markets over the past 20 years and deployed more than $6.5 billion in over 100 firms across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Write to Dong-Hun Lee at leedh@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.