This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 2:37 p.m. on Sept. 7, 2026.
Since the Homeplus Co. rehabilitation proceedings incident, MBK Partners, which had rarely appeared in Korea's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market, has resumed investing in domestic corporations one after another in the second half of this year. Last year, as its room to maneuver in Korea narrowed and the M&A market slumped, an investment gap emerged, but this year it is actively sourcing targets in step with the drawdown timing of its special situations (SS) fund and is restarting domestic deals.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 7th, MBK recently signed a contract to acquire management control of Skin Idea and Life & Bio from Morgan Stanley Private Equity (MS PE) for about 300 billion won. Before that, in August, it also executed a minority equity investment in K-beauty brand AXIS-Y. Having made no new domestic investments last year, MBK has carried out two domestic investments in the second half of this year, restarting its investment activity.
Given that MBK had made one or two domestic investments every year, last year's investment gap is unusual. Starting with Connect Wave (formerly Koreacenter) in 2021, it continued to invest in major domestic corporations including Medit in 2022, Osstem Implant in 2023, and GeoYoung and Korea Zinc in 2024.
However, following the 2024 management control dispute at Korea Zinc and last year's Homeplus Co. incident, it became burdensome to push new investments in Korea. In addition, the domestic M&A market last year could not see active large transactions due to high financing expense and economic uncertainty. As the valuation gap between sellers and buyers widened, it was difficult for PEFs to readily invest.
While the domestic investment gap continued, MBK moved actively in Japan. In Japan, as calls grew for improved corporate governance, noncore business divestitures and business restructuring followed, and there were many transactions where PEFs could find investment opportunities, such as voluntary delistings by listed companies or sales of management control. Based on this environment, MBK invested in semiconductor equipment firm FICT, aluminum can and parts maker Artemira Holdings, and medical and nursing care services provider Solasto in Japan.
An MBK official said, "As a multi-market fund manager, we steadily source investment targets and carry out exits in each market," adding, "Even one investment or exit per market per year can be considered an A grade." The official continued, "The reason the Japan team has been active in investments and exits over the past two years is that the Japanese market was the hottest globally," and explained, "By comparison, while it wouldn't be accurate to call Korea's M&A market a slump, it has been relatively quiet."
The fund's investment clock also influenced the restart of domestic investments this year. The MBK SS Fund II secured more than 500 billion won last year by recovering its SK On investment. Including remaining capital, it effectively gained investment capacity of about 1 trillion won. Launched at 2.5 trillion won, the fund includes a recycling clause that allows reinvestment of recovered capital. Accordingly, MBK extended the fund's drawdown deadline, originally set to expire in April this year, by one year and planned to invest the remaining capital within the year.
During the extended investment period, MBK also sought investment opportunities in Korea to deploy the remaining capital. In this process, it sourced Skin Idea, Life & Bio, and AXIS-Y and invested in quick succession. With undeployed capital still remaining in SS Fund II, MBK is also said to be reviewing other domestic investment opportunities. Since it must deploy the remaining capital within the set period, there is a possibility that additional domestic deals will be concluded within this year.
It is still uncertain whether this resumption of investment will lead to trillion-won scale large buyouts. The recently invested Skin Idea, Life & Bio, and AXIS-Y are all midcap-sized SS investments. MBK secured capacity to pursue large deals by forming its sixth buyout fund at $5.5 billion last year. However, with the Homeplus Co. incident ongoing, if it seeks trillion-won management control acquisitions, there are more factors to consider than in the past, so it remains uncertain whether its domestic investment stride will extend to large buyouts. The industry also notes that good assets for sale are scarce.