[Edaily Marketin YunJi Kim Reporter] Global alternative investment manager Tomav Bravo has recruited Korean talent. As competition among global private equity (PEF) firms to secure funds in Asia intensifies, the presence of Korean fundraising professionals is also growing.

As institutional investors (LPs) in Asia—including those from South Korea and Japan—emerge as major sources of capital, there are a growing number of cases where professionals with local networks are taking charge of fundraising across the entire Asian region.

Park Sang-woo, Formerly of HIG, Appointed Head of Asia IR at Toma Bravo

According to local industry sources on the 9th (local time)

,

global alternative investment manager

Toma Bravo

recently hired Park Sang-woo, a former executive at HIG Capital, as Managing Director of Investor Relations (IR) and Head of Asia.

The newly appointed Head, Park, spent approximately eight years at HIG Capital, where he led fundraising efforts across the Asia region. He raised capital from Asian institutional investors across HIG’s key investment strategies, including not only private equity but also private credit (private lending), real estate, and infrastructure.

Park will be based in Hong Kong and will oversee Tomavravo’s investor relations and fundraising activities across Asia.

Toma Bravo, where Park has joined, is a global alternative investment firm managing approximately $172 billion (about 230 trillion won) in assets under management and specializes in software company buyouts. In June of last year, the firm raised $24.3 billion (approximately 32 trillion won) for its 16th flagship software fund and also established a separate fund worth $8.1 billion (approximately 11 trillion won) to invest in small and mid-sized software companies.

However, despite managing such large funds, Toma Bravo has been relatively cautious about investing in Asia. This is attributed to factors such as the difficulty in finding investment opportunities in platforms of a suitable size that would allow it to secure controlling stakes. In fact, Toma Bravo has focused on buyouts that secure controlling stakes rather than minority investments.

On the other hand, the firm has been steadily expanding its ties with Asia in terms of fundraising. It is reported that Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) and Fubon Life Vietnam, among others, participated as investors in Tomavravo’s most recent fund.

Given that Asia’s importance is growing more in the context of fundraising than in investment opportunities, the appointment of Park, who has extensive experience in Asian fundraising, is interpreted as a move to strengthen relationships with local LPs and broaden the firm’s fundraising base.

Global GPs Successively Appoint Talent with Korean or Korean LP Experience

This appointment is part of a broader trend in which global asset managers are placing personnel with Korean backgrounds or networks of Korean LPs in key roles for fundraising in Asia.

Previously, HIG Capital recruited Choi Young-hee, former Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, as Head of Capital Formation for Asia, while Adams Street Partners promoted Cho Sung-woo, its Korea Representative, to Head of IR for Asia. Digital Bridge also recruited Ahn Tae-eun, former Korea Representative at Partners Group, as Head of Capital Formation for Asia.

These moves are also intertwined with the recent fundraising environment in the global private equity market. As fund redemptions from existing funds have been delayed due to prolonged exits, and existing LPs’ capacity to make new commitments has diminished, competition among global GPs to secure capital has intensified. This is the backdrop against which there is a growing push to expand the fundraising base—which had been concentrated in North America and Europe—to include South Korea, Japan, and the Middle East.

In this process, the presence of Korean institutional investors is also growing. Domestic pension funds, mutual aid associations, and insurance companies are regarded as major Asian LPs that have long allocated capital to various alternative investment strategies, including global private equity, credit, real estate, and infrastructure. Consequently, there are an increasing number of cases where fundraising professionals—who have built relationships with Korean LPs or have Korean backgrounds—are taking charge of fundraising strategies for the entire Asian region.

A source in the global capital markets industry stated, “Recently, global GPs have been focusing more on securing local institutional capital than on establishing investment hubs in Asia,” adding, “The value of fundraising professionals who have built long-term relationships with Asian LPs, including those in Korea, is bound to increase accordingly.”