A 'Samsung Man' to the Bone, Now Working Here... Key Player in the Investment Market [Private Equity Network Expos?④]

'Semiconductor Legend' Jin Daeje, Chairman of Skylake
Kim Jaewook, CEO of BNW Investment, Former President of Memory Manufacturing
Glenwood PE's Rapid Growth Driven by Financial Experts

Editor's Note It has been 20 years since private equity funds (PEFs) for buying and selling companies were first registered in Korea. The market, which was only 200 billion KRW in 2005, has rapidly grown to over 140 trillion KRW. As seen in the Homeplus incident, private equity funds now even affect the daily lives of ordinary people. We thoroughly investigate who the key figures are that dominate the domestic private equity industry.

In the domestic private equity industry, which is mainly composed of professionals from global financial firms and consulting companies, one notable network stands out: those from the 'top company' Samsung Electronics. Those who entered the private equity industry with the perspective of Samsung are moving the capital market with distinctive strategies.

‘Samsung Men’ to the Core: Leading Figures in the Private Equity Industry

A representative Samsung Electronics alumnus leading private equity is Jin Dae-je, chairman of Skylake Investment. He began his career in 1985 as a senior researcher at Samsung Electronics’ U.S. subsidiary and established ties with Samsung. Later, he served as head of Samsung Electronics Central Research Institute and CEO overseeing digital media. He is credited with leading the world’s first development of 16MB and 256MB DRAM, positioning Samsung Semiconductor where it is today.

Afterwards, during the Roh Moo-hyun administration in 2003, Chairman Jin served as the 49th Minister of Science and Technology Information and Communication. In 2006, he founded Skylake Investment. Currently, Skylake leverages Chairman Jin’s past experience to invest in various sectors, including technology companies responsible for Korea’s future growth engines such as AI semiconductors and secondary batteries.

Kim Jae-wook, CEO of BNW Investment, is also a prominent ‘Samsung man’ in the private equity industry. He joined Samsung Electronics in 1978 through open recruitment and spent over 30 years there until 2010. Kim served as vice president of Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor Giheung plant, then became president in charge of semiconductor memory manufacturing in 2005. He also held positions as president of Samsung Electronics’ technology manufacturing division, Samsung SDI, and Samsung LED.

Later, in 2012, Kim co-founded BN Investment with Jang Dong-sik, former vice president and head of research at Samsung SDI. BN Investment capitalized on Kim’s expertise as Korea’s top semiconductor expert and Jang’s extensive experience in the secondary battery field to invest in secondary battery manufacturer EcoPro BM, achieving strong results.

"Technical Expertise and Global Insight Are Strengths"

Glenwood Private Equity, one of the fastest-growing private equity firms in Korea, was co-founded by Lee Sang-ho and Jung Chan-wook, both former Samsung Electronics employees. The two worked in Samsung Electronics’ finance team for five years, handling extensive accounting and financial tasks for Samsung Electronics and its subsidiaries. In 2015, they joined forces to establish Glenwood.

Glenwood’s first investment was CJ Olive Young. At the time, the connection between the pro-Samsung faction and CEO Lee became a topic of interest. Lee is the youngest son among two sons and one daughter of former Samsung Group Vice Chairman Lee Hak-soo. The former vice chairman was appointed CEO of CheilJedang during the Samsung-CJ split and stood opposed to CJ Chairman Lee Jae-hyun (then executive director). Despite his father’s past, Lee led mutually beneficial investments, which was widely discussed in the industry for some time.

Expanding into the venture capital industry, Samsung Electronics alumni are even more common. These include Jung Il-bu, CEO of IMM; Kang Jun-gyu, CEO of G&Tech Venture Investment; Joo Sung-jin, CEO of L&S Venture Capital; Kim Jung-hyun, CEO of K-Lan Venture; Ahn Jae-kwang, CEO of SBI Investment; and Kim Je-wook, vice president of Atinum Investment, all former Samsung Electronics employees.

These individuals, inheriting Samsung’s ‘blue blood’ from various departments such as semiconductors, wireless business marketing, and software R&D, are actively contributing to the venture investment market in their own ways.

An investment banking industry insider explained, "Samsung alumni have strengths not only in technical expertise but also in global market insight and trend analysis capabilities. The number of Samsung alumni investment officers is steadily increasing, so more active roles in the investment market are expected in the future."

Unique Backgrounds in the Private Equity Industry

There are many with unique backgrounds in the private equity industry.

A prime example is Yoon Yeo-eul, chairman of Hahn & Company. Among domestic gamers, he is well known as the key figure who successfully established the console game ‘PlayStation 2’ in Korea. Chairman Yoon worked exclusively at Sony for 21 years from 1989 to 2010. Notably, as president of Sony Korea in 2005, he raised sales from 800 billion KRW to 1.2 trillion KRW in just four years.

As a typical successful Korean executive in a foreign company, many were puzzled when he suddenly left Sony in 2010 to join the newly established private equity firm Hahn & Company, founded by Harvard MBA alumnus Han Sang-won. He could have become the CEO of Sony’s global business division. However, his new start was successful. Chairman Yoon managed and increased the value of companies acquired by Hahn & Company, including Namyang Dairy Products.

Min Hyun-gi, president of Skylake Investment alongside Chairman Jin Dae-je, is a former Daewoo Motors researcher. During the IMF financial crisis in 1999, he moved from Daewoo Motors to Dongyang Venture Investment and was active in the venture investment market until 2008. In October of the same year, he joined Skylake Investment and has contributed to the company’s growth for 17 years.

Jung Jong-woo, co-founder and vice president of Glenwood, served as an Air Force officer and assisted a deputy minister. At that time, he handled sensitive negotiations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense ministers. Vice President Jung is credited with leading Glenwood as a master of ‘carve-out’ deals (sale of non-core businesses).