December 22, 2024

• 

Ahn Jae-hoon, Goldman Sachs' new head of Korea investment banking and co-country head. (Goldman Sachs)

Goldman Sachs has tapped Ahn Jae-hoon, a veteran dealmaker and a former vice president of SK Bioscience, to head its investment banking business in South Korea.

The bank announced Monday that Ahn has been appointed as the head of its investment banking in Korea and co-country head. The positions have been vacant since the departure of David Chung in early June.

Ahn will join the Wall Street bank as a managing director in mid-August from SK Bioscience, where he served as head of strategic planning and corporate development.

According to Goldman, Ahn has spent 13 years at leading global investment banks in Seoul and was responsible for client coverage of Korean corporates and financial sponsors.

Before joining SK Bioscience in 2021, Ahn was with Morgan Stanely's Seoul branch where he was involved in some major mergers and acquisitions, including CJ Group's acquisition of US food giant Schwan's Company. In 2019, he was appointed the branch's managing director.

At Goldman, Ahn will be the co-country head and co-branch manager of Seoul alongside Choi Jae-joon.

In leading investment banking, he will work closely with Edward Byun, who had interim responsibility for Korea investment banking and will continue to have a leadership role as co-head of equity capital markets for Asia ex-Japan. Lee Seok-yong will continue to serve as chief operating officer for Korea investment banking.

Goldman Sachs is one of the largest foreign investors in Korea, having invested more than $4.7 billion since 1999.

In April, the firm advised MBK Partners in its successful $1.4 billion acquisition of Geo-Young, Korea’s largest wholesale distributor of pharmaceutical drug products. It led the $365 million Nasdaq initial public offering of Naver’s Webtoon last month and the $2.1 billion selldown in four Samsung Group companies in January.

By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)