August 30, 2016

Two senior executives from private equity firm KKR & Co. who have been responsible for some of the firm’s biggest food and ag investments are leaving the firm at the end of this year to launch a new China-focused investment firm.

David Liu, head of China and co-head of Asia private equity at KKR, and firm partner Julian Wolhardt announced they are leaving KKR at the end of this year to launch a new China-focused investment firm.

“We are extremely proud to have been part of KKR over the last 10 years and to have contributed to building a leading Asian private equity platform. As we go on to pursue our own entrepreneurial venture, we look forward to finding opportunities to work in partnership with KKR in the future,” David Liu and Julian Wolhardt, said in a company statement.

As two of the most senior executives with KKR, Liu and Wolhardt managed some of the firm’s largest investments. Both oversaw KKR’s first food investment in China in September 2008 – a $150 million investment in China Modern Dairy Holdings.

KKR and private equity firm CDH Investment initially paid $150 million in cash for a 34.5 percent stake in China Modern Dairy in 2008 after China’s dairy industry was rocked by a scandal involving infant formula tainted with the chemical melamine which killed six infants. In the years since KKR and CDH invested, China Modern Dairy increased its dairy herd from 24,000 cows to 180,000 and multiplied its farms from three to 22. After Modern Dairy’s initial public offering in 2010 and the sale of a stake in the company to Mengniu in 2013, KKR’s initial investment nearly tripled.

The two also oversaw KKR’s $400 million investment in exchange for an 18 percent stake in the largest chicken breeder, processor, and supplier in China, Fujian Sunner Development Co. Ltd. As of the end of the first quarter of this year, the Fujian Sunner investment returned about 30 percent, sources told Bloomberg.

Liu and Wolhardt’s departure comes as KKR’s $6 billion second Asia fund is approaching the conclusion of its investment period with two-thirds of its capital deployed with a return after fees of nearly 25 percent, according to the Financial Times.

The firm is now expected to launch its third fund with a projected corpus of $7 billion. In response to these changes and in expectation of these developments, the firm has announced additions and changes to its private equity leadership team.

New appointments include Ashish Shastry as Head of Southeast Asia and Member of KKR, Zhen Ji as Managing Director of KKR, China, Hyoung Seok Lim as Managing Director of KKR, Korea, and Rob Yang as Managing Director of KKR Real Estate, China. Ming Lu, a Member of KKR and co-head of Asia Private Equity has been appointed sole Head of Asia Private Equity.

I am extremely excited to welcome this incredible group of senior executives to KKR as we continue to invest aggressively in the build- out of our regional platform,” said Joseph Bae, Managing Partner, KKR Asia. “Given the rapidly changing market conditions across the region, it is imperative that KKR continues to deepen the investment and operational capabilities in each of our core markets to maintain our leadership position in Asia.”

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Lynda Kiernan