MBK chairman debuts as novelist

The cover of “Offerings,” the debut novel by MBK Partners Chairman Kim Byung-ju. / Captured from Amazon.com

By Park Jae-hyuk

MBK Partners Chairman Kim Byung-ju will publish an autobiographical novel in English, March 24.

According to industry officials, Tuesday, the head of the largest Northeast Asian independent private equity fund is set to unveil his first novel titled “Offerings” in hardcover and Kindle eBook formats.

Readers can pre-order the 288-page book on Amazon.com and several other e-commerce platforms.

The protagonist of the book is Dae-joon, a Korea-born Wall Street investment banker who was raised in the United States and educated at Harvard Business School (HBS).

With the rapidly cascading Asian Financial Crisis threatening to go global and Korea in imminent meltdown, Dae-joon finds himself back in his native Seoul as part of an international team brought in to rescue the country from sovereign default.

Following this, he finds himself in a personal crisis, when his closest friend from HBS, a scion of one of Korea's biggest chaebol, asks for his help in a sale that may save the conglomerate but also salvage a legacy of corruption.

Just as Dae-joon did, Kim moved to the U.S. at the age of 10 and earned an MBA from HBS.

The chairman also worked on Wall Street as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and the chief operating officer of Asia-Pacific investment banking for Salomon Smith Barney.

He was in charge of issuing foreign exchange equalization bonds, during the Asian Financial Crisis.

In the novel, Kim indirectly expresses his love toward his wife, a daughter of POSCO founder and former Prime Minister Park Tae-joon.

“A young woman he has met is quietly showing the way to a different future,” Kim wrote.

The novel has received favorable reviews from bestselling authors worldwide.

“A potent combination of a financial thriller and a coming-of-age immigrant tale, Offerings is a great book. A thoughtful and engrossing read,” said Gary Shteyngart, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of “Lake Success.”

“Michael Kim writes with the authority of an insider on the intricate workings of Wall Street and the high stakes for Korea during the Asia Financial Crisis, but at its core Offerings is a moving love story ― about a young man's love for his home country, his father and his newfound soul mate. Offerings is an elegant poem on the redemptive power of love,” said Sandy Weill, chairman emeritus of Citigroup and bestselling author of “The Real Deal: My Life in Business and Philanthropy.”

Although Kim is better known as a cool-headed investor, he once reportedly dreamed of being a playwright, when he was studying English literature at Haverford College.

According to industry insiders, he also chooses artwork for his office himself, based on his deep knowledge of art.