This article was published on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 8:25 a.m. on Oct. 30, 2025.
As suspicions of death from overwork of an employee at bakery brand London Bagel Museum spread, crisis management skills of JKL Partners, the private equity firm that is the largest shareholder, have come under scrutiny.
According to the investment banking industry on the 30th, JKL Partners sent a statement of explanation written by London Bagel Museum to limited partners on the 28th regarding the employee overwork death allegations. The gist of the statement is that the overwork death is still only an allegation and that some media reports contain inaccuracies.
Because the stock purchase agreement between JKL Partners and LBM, the previous largest shareholder of London Bagel Museum, was completed before the employee death accident, there is no room for legal dispute. An M&A specialist lawyer said, "If (the accident) occurred before the SPA, a lawsuit could be possible for breach of representations and warranties, but if it occurred afterward, there is no room."
London Bagel Museum could see its sales growth stall amid the allegations of death from overwork. Its strategy to boost corporate value through branch expansion could also be disrupted.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said the previous day that it would begin a labor inspection of London Bagel Museum's headquarters and its Incheon branch. It is a planned inspection, a lower level of action than a special inspection that would impose fines and criminal charges without corrective orders. Minister Kim Young-hoon said, "Through this inspection we will thoroughly ascertain the facts and, if violations of the law are confirmed, respond sternly with a zero-tolerance policy."
If the issue is not contained early, JKL Partners could be at a disadvantage in future fundraising markets. Fortunately, JKL Partners this year formed a blind fund of 970 billion won, but PEF managers typically raise additional funds when acquiring corporations, not only using blind fund capital but also arranging acquisition financing or separate project funds.
An industry source in investment banking said, "After MBK Partners' Homeplus Co. acquisition incident, a mood has formed in which pension funds, including the National Pension Service, and mutual aid associations are reluctant to commit capital to managers with ESG (environmental, social and governance) problems."
However, if London Bagel Museum's performance worsens, the 200 billion won acquisition payment that JKL Partners must pay LBM will be reduced. The contract was structured to provide more than half of the sale price in the first installment and pay the remainder next year as an additional payment depending on this year's performance.
According to the food service industry and others, a man in his 20s surnamed A who worked at London Bagel Museum's Incheon branch was found dead at an employee dormitory on the morning of July 16. The bereaved family said the deceased suffered extreme work stress while preparing to open a new branch and operating the store at the same time, and died from overwork. They allege that the deceased worked 80 hours and 12 minutes in the week before his death and averaged 60 hours and 21 minutes per week in the 12 weeks before his death.
LBM, the operator of London Bagel Museum, said some of the bereaved family's claims, such as "80-hour workweeks," are not true. LBM said, "We cannot rule out the possibility that there were overtime hours the headquarters did not know about, but the bereaved family's claim that overtime reached 80 hours per week is not convincing," and added, "Since joining, the deceased applied for overtime seven times (nine hours) in 13 months, and the average weekly working hours we identified for the deceased were 44.1 hours."