#62 Weijian Shan - A Private Equity Deep Dive and Money Games

The Wall Street Lab

Weijian Shan is chairman and CEO of PAG, a leading Asia-focused private equity firm. Prior to PAG, he was a partner of TPG, and co-managing partner of TPG Asia (formerly known as Newbridge Capital). Over two decades, Weijian Shan has led a number of landmark transactions. Previously, Shan was a managing director of JP Morgan, and an assistant professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.B.A. from the University of San Francisco. Shan is the author of Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America (2019) and Money Games: The Inside Story of How American Dealmakers Saved Korea's Most Iconic Bank (2020). His articles and commentary have been published in the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs and many other publications. In this episode we speak about Private Equity. Shan walks us through the entire process of a Private Equity deal, from sourcing deals, the ins and outs buying a company, restructuring or turning around said company, and then exiting the deal successfully. We deep into some of the deals Shan lead during his more than 20 year career, most prominently into the acquisition of Korea First bank. We talk about his book Money Games and Shan leaves us with some fantastic career advice.