Three long-serving partners at Hong Kong-based private equity (PE) firm Affinity Equity Partners are reportedly exiting the firm over the next 12 months ahead of the launch of its sixth pan-Asian buyout fund.
According to a Mergermarket report, which quoted people familiar with the matter, Affinity has informed limited partners that Queenie Ho, Icksoo Jung, and Kenneth Liu, will depart over the next 12 months. Each of them has spent over 15 years at the firm.
The leadership transition follows the promotion of three investment professionals—Mark Chudek, Samuel Kim, and Michael Kim—to partner earlier this year and comes as the firm prepares for the launch of its latest PE fund, according to the report.
Established in 1998, Affinity Equity Partners manages around $14 billion in funds and assets, focusing on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions in Korea, Southeast Asia, Greater China, Australia, and New Zealand.
The firm closed its fifth Asian buyout fund—Affinity Asia Pacific Fund V—with a corpus of $6 billion in 2018. Fund IV raised $3.8 billion in 2013.
Last year, the firm completed two Southeast Asian acquisitions totalling $1.65 billion. It acquired Indonesian gummy candy maker Yupi for about $1.2 billion and Malaysian seafood processor Golden Fresh for around $450 million.
Affinity was also busy making exits in Southeast Asia last year. The buyout investor had sold its 78% stake in Malaysia’s Island Hospital to local conglomerate IHH Healthcare for an enterprise value of $966 million in one of the largest healthcare acquisitions in the region in 2024.
It also fully exited its investment in Indonesia’s herbal company Sido Muncul for $233 million in April 2024.
