Ex-Goldman Banker Turned PE Billionaire Takes On Korea’s Chaebol

In his 2020 bestseller, billionaire dealmaker Michael ByungJu Kim’s leading character is a young banker who finds himself tangled in the dealings of South Korea’s wealthiest families.

Now, fact appears to be following fiction.

Last month, Kim’s eponymous private equity firm MBK Partners Ltd stepped into one of the most fraught corporate battles in recent Korean history, a tussle pitting the founding families behind heavyweight Korea Zinc Co. against each other. The two sides are vying for control of the world’s largest producer of the refined metal, a key player in global efforts to loosen China’s ...