source from: WSJ
MARKETS
Asian Private-Equity Firm Plans Big $4 Billion Buyout Fund
MBK Partners’ new fund is latest in a robust run of private-equity fundraising in Asia-Pacific region

By ALEC MACFARLANE
Updated April 15, 2016 1:45 a.m. ET
1 COMMENTS
Asian private-equity firm MBK Partners LP is seeking to raise up to $4 billion for a new buyout fund, according to people familiar with the situation.

The firm, which invests in Greater China, Japan and South Korea, has started premarketing its fourth fund and is planning to officially launch the fundraising in the second half of this year, one of the people said.

Raising $4 billion would make the new private-equity fund the fifth largest in Asia to date, according to the Centre for Asia Private Equity Research Ltd. It would also be almost 50% larger than MBK’s previous fund, which raised $2.7 billion in 2013. The largest Asia-focused private-equity fund is managed by KKR & Co., which raised $6 billion in 2013.

MBK’s fundraising will add to a mountain of dry powder recently raised for private-equity deals in Asia. Last year, Bain Capital LLC, Baring Private Equity Asia, RRJ Capital and PAG Asia Capital raised more than $15 billion combined for deals in the region.

MBK made a splash in September 2015 when it led a consortium of investors in the ￡4 billion ($6.1 billion) acquisition of British supermarket chain Tesco PLC’s South Korea business, known as HomePlus. The transaction ranks among the largest private-equity deals in Asia, according to data provider Dealogic. Co-investors in the Tesco deal included the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd.

The private-equity firm, which has $10.1 billion in capital under management, was set up in 2005 by a team of former executives from Carlyle Group LP led by Michael Kim, who previously oversaw the U.S. private-equity giant’s buyout activities in the Asia-Pacific region.