SCB 10X has promoted Vorawan Wangpanitkul to partner while Affinity Equity’s founding member and managing partner CJ Lee is reportedly leaving the firm.
Affinity’s founding member CJ Lee quits
Lee Chul-joo (CJ Lee), founding member and managing partner of Asian buyout manager Affinity Equity Partners, has reportedly left the company, becoming the third Korean executive to resign this year.
According to The Korea Economic Daily, Lee tendered his resignation, effective August 4, and will also relinquish his director roles at firms like Kyobo Life Insurance.
Lee’s departure follows the resignations of Affinity’s former chairman Park Young-taeg and ex-head of the Seoul office, Sam Lee, earlier this year. The report said Lee will take on a vice-head position at cloud service provider Bespin Global, where his elder brother, Lee Han-joo, serves as CEO.
Partner Min Byung-chul (Charles Min) will now lead Affinity’s Seoul office.
Since its establishment in 2002, Affinity has been part of some significant deals in Korea. Notably, the firm, in conjunction with KKR & Co, acquired and later resold Korea’s leading beer maker Oriental Brewery for $1.8 billion and $5.8 billion, respectively.
SCB 10X promotes Vorawan Wangpanitkul to partner
Vorawan Wangpanitkul has been promoted to partner of Bangkok-based SCB 10X — formerly known as Digital Ventures — after holding the position of principal for over three years.
Vorawan, who started her career in 2011 at Citibank, joined Digital Ventures as an associate in 2016.
SCB 10X is the innovation and investment arm of SCBX, which is the mothership of the business group that comprises Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), one of Thailand’s largest and oldest banks.
It has a venture capital focus in the areas of blockchain, digital assets, metaverse, and Web 3.0.