Verde TLGY Logo

Special Purpose Acquisition Company with deep roots in private equity and transformational operations that reflect the career of our founder, Jin-Goon Kim, as both a blue-chip private equity partner and a public and private company CEO.

About Us

TLGY Acquisition Corporation is a blank check company sponsored by TLGY Sponsors LLC, whose business purpose is to effect a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. TLGY was formed to focus on growth companies through long-term, private equity style value creation in the biopharma and business-to-consumer (B2C) technology sectors. TLGY is led by Jin-Goon Kim, a former partner of TPG Capital and a former CEO of industry leaders in Asia, including Dell Korea and Li Ning.

Strategy

TLGY utilizes a private equity style investment approach focused on long-term growth potential when selecting potential acquisition targets and securing favorable deal terms.

TLGY’s team will use its differentiated capabilities to source potential target opportunities:

  • Investment Expertise
    Decades of combined experience in private equity and venture capital investing, with dozens of successful exits and an aggregate of well over a billion USD of capital returned to institutional investors.
  • Sourcing
    Deep industry expertise and a substantial proprietary network in a wide range of market segments as both investors and operators, and a proven track record of execution across dozens of transactions.
  • Value Creation
    Operational leadership and demonstrated shareholder value-creation across multiple industries and companies.

Business Strategy

TLGY’s strategy is rooted in its broad network of global relationships, deep industry and operational expertise, and highly differentiated deal-sourcing and structuring skills. TLGY expects it will be a value-added partner to potential targets and will execute private equity style value creation programs post business combination. TLGY’s team has deep experience in:

  • Selecting favorable target sectors based on forward-looking market dynamics;
  • Identifying and commercializing innovations with breakthrough potential that can fuel sustainable and profitable growth;
  • Hands-on business building, transformations, and technology implementations that offer differentiated value propositions for entrepreneur owners and thus create proprietary deal dynamics;
  • Developing and executing highly focused value-creation programs to drive growth, profitability, cost reduction, and/or industry consolidation;
  • Navigating large public and private businesses through a myriad of executional challenges that stem from rapid growth, large strategic shifts, and implementation of bold and aspirational plans;
  • Advising leading companies and entrepreneurs globally on strategy, deal structuring, capital markets, domestic and cross-border M&A; and
  • Building, guiding and/or partnering with management teams to deliver on transformative company goals.
back to top

Business Combination Criteria

In line with TLGY’s business strategy, below are key aspects of its business combination criteria which TLGY’s team has deep experience with.

  • Macro Tailwind and Key Enabling Trends
    TLGY’s founder identified major industry inflection points in large growth markets as opportunities to generate additional revenues and profits. Although China Grand Auto rode the wave of rapid industry growth of the late 2000s, its business grew seemingly much faster than the market, expanding 7x in revenues and 40x in profits within four years, largely because TLGY’s founder led its business mix shift from low-margin car sales to profitable services and ancillary products just as consumer demand for these new business lines was taking off. In the same vein, we intend to seek targets that have innovative technology development and/or commercialization strategies. We will be looking for consumer companies that are well positioned to capitalize on various technological developments.
  • Value Creation Through Transformation
    TLGY’s founder has a track record of executing winning business models in growth companies whose entrepreneur management team had built outstanding businesses, but often without the benefit of training in the world’s leading operations. TLGY’s founder helped grow them into industry leaders by faithfully deploying breakthrough strategies and operational toolkits such as industry roll-up, fast fashion, Supply Chain Management (“SCM”) digitization, CRM and KPI based direct retail, and SKU and product portfolio optimization. Hence, we favor a target with solid business and management that still has ample opportunities to benefit from global best-practices.
  • Technology Expertise
    Having started his career in technology (McKinsey Technology, enterprise software VC, and Dell Inc.), TLGY’s founder has relied on technology to drive his corporate transformations. Most recently, he has invested in and/or worked with such companies as an innovative micro-brewery platform and a non-bank fintech platform. TLGY’s independent board member Donghyun Han was one of the early technology venture investors in Asia. Our combined but varied set of experiences will help us identify winning target companies and support their growth.
  • Public Market Benefits
    We intend to seek targets that wish, with our help, to leapfrog the process of becoming a mature public company and quickly capitalize on rapidly evolving market opportunities by accessing capital markets to uplift its market positioning. We prefer situations where increased public transparency, enhanced governance and disciplined financial control will have a meaningfully positive impact on a target and help it develop more quickly into a market leader.
back to top

Unique Spac Structure

TLGY’s innovative SPAC structure is designed to encourage roll-over investments and mitigate redemptions:

  • Structural innovation with fixed pool of warrants and conversion to common mechanism creates upside potential and downside protection.
  • Creates potentially sufficient incentive to buy shares in the open market before the DeSPAC completes.
  • Naturally embedded multiplier quickly escalates upside and downside protection if redemption rises.

Upcoming Events

Media

Our Team

Portrait

Mr. Jin-Goon Kim, Founder and Chairman

Two decades of senior leadership in a top global private equity firm and as a serial transformational CEO in leading public and private companies.

  • Investor and founder of TLGY and LIC (2017 – Present)
  • Partner and Investment Review Committee member, TPG Capital (2006 – 2016)
  • CEO and Vice Chairman, Li Ning (2012 – 2014; top sportswear brand)
  • CEO and Vice Chairman, China Grand Auto (2007 – 2011; top auto platform)
  • President, Dell Korea (2002 – 2006)

A leading industry figure and award-winning CEO:

  • 2009 Outstanding Growth Award (TPG Capital)
  • 2009 Dealership Group of the Year (21st Century, top China financial media)
  • 2010 Men of the Year in the Auto Retail (top China industry forum)
  • 2012 Most Innovative Business Model (21st Century, top China financial media)

Immediately prior to founding TLGY Holdings in May 2021, Mr. Kim focused on global, high growth investments with strong potential to benefit from attractive emerging macro trends and in which he could apply his experience implementing business transformation to drive value creation. From 2006 to 2016 Mr. Kim was with TPG Capital, a leading global private equity firm, where he served as a Partner and a member of its Asia investment review committee. In his capacity as a TPG partner, Mr. Kim also served as a CEO or transformation leader of multiple TPG portfolio companies, often in parallel. Mr. Kim co-led TPG’s four major transformational investments across China’s core consumer sectors. Each of the four investments had a differentiated value creation angle in the form of a disruptive business model and/or technology; they collectively returned well over a billion dollars to TPG’s investors.

From 2012 to 2014, Mr. Kim served as CEO and Vice Chairman of Li Ning, a leading sportswear brand in China with more than US$2 billion of annual sales in 2020, where he devised and launched a brand transformation that helped salvage the company from financial distress and laid the foundation for its ultimate revival as a leading brand and a company that today has a market capitalization greater than US$30 billion. Mr. Kim served from 2011 to 2015 as a Board member of Daphne International Holdings Limited, a leading women’s footwear brand in China, where he led the shoe industry’s first successful wholesale implementation of fast retail and digitization of supply chain management that sharply uplifted sales, profits, and market capitalization of what had been a stagnant business prior to his engagement. Mr. Kim from 2007 to 2011 served as CEO and Vice Chairman of China Grand Auto, during which time he helped pioneer the company’s retail roll-up in China and the digitization of the company’s management system to grow the company’s sales by seven times and to take it from a #11 mid-size platform in China to the #1 auto retail and services company both in China and in the world. Within a few years thereafter, the company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and reached a market capitalization of approximately US$15 billion. Mr. Kim also served from 2009 to 2010 as a Board member of UniTrust Group, a leading Chinese independent equipment leasing company, during which time he helped build a management team and formulate a new strategy that transformed a start-up operation into a large sector leader that would eventually list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at a market capitalization of approximately US$2 billion.

Before joining TPG Capital, Mr. Kim served from 2002 to 2006 as President of Dell Korea, the Korean affiliate of Dell, a global leader in hardware, software and services with more than $60 billion in annual sales in 2020. He successfully led the implementation of Dell’s direct model in Korea for the first time, thereby firmly establishing Dell as a leading player in a market where it had previously struggled to secure a meaningful market presence or to build a profitable business. Mr. Kim served from 2000 to 2002 as a Vice President of Internet Business Capital Corporation, a Cambridge, Massachusetts based early-stage venture capital firm that helped found or participated in early investments in successful ventures including Cambridge Technology Partners and Razorfish. Mr. Kim started his career in 1996 in the Seoul and Boston offices of McKinsey & Company, a global management consultancy. Mr. Kim earned an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard College, a diploma from the Hopkins-Nanjing Centre, and an AB in East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Government from Harvard College.

Portrait

Mr. Young Cho, CFA, Chief Executive Officer

Over 27 years as a technology entrepreneur, investor, and finance executive, in traditional and digital asset markets.

  • Founder & CEO, Blockhouse Digital (2024 – Present)
  • CFO, Swirlds Labs (2022 - 2024)
  • CFO & Board Member, Hedera Hashgraph (2021 - 2022)
  • CIO, Abra (2020 - 2021)
  • Executive Director, UBS - Private Finance (2010 - 2012)
  • Director, Citigroup - Special Situations Group, Quantitative Research (1997 - 2007)

Mr. Cho is Founder & CEO of Blockhouse Digital an asset management firm that specializes in collateralized lending and yield generating strategies in the crypto markets. Prior to Blockhouse, Mr. Cho was CFO of Swirlds Labs and CFO of Hedera Hashgraph LLC, a proof-of-stake public network powered by hashgraph consensus. While at Hedera, Mr. Cho was also CFO and board member of Mount Rainier Acquisition Corp, a Nasdaq listed SPAC that acquired HUB Cyber Security for $1.2 billion in 2023. Prior to Hedera, Mr. Cho was Chief Investment Officer of Abra, a digital consumer wallet where users can trade and earn rewards on their cryptocurrency holdings. Prior to Abra, Mr. Cho was CFO of Celsius Network and CFO of Alt Lending, both companies involved in the lending of cryptocurrencies. Prior to that, Young held several positions in investment banks. Mr. Cho was an Executive Director at UBS Private Finance, responsible for originating loans for medium sized private companies and Ultra HNW clients. Prior to UBS, Mr. Cho was Co-founder and Managing Director at Newtonian Capital, a multi-strategy hedge fund focusing on event-driven strategies based in Hong Kong. Prior to Newtonian, Mr. Cho was a Director at Citigroup Global Special Situations Group, where he invested Citigroup’s proprietary capital in the debt and equity of distressed corporates and special situation investments. Young started his career as an analyst at Salomon Brothers Fixed Income Quantitative Research group. Young has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell, a Masters in Financial Engineering from Cornell, a MPA in Economic Policy Management from Columbia, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Portrait

Mr. Enrique Klix, Independent Director, Chair of the Compensation Committee

Over 30 years of experience in finance, operational, turnaround, and consulting roles in publicly listed and private companies.

  • Director, Integral Acquisition Corporation 1 (2021 – Present)
  • General Manager, Orora Limited (2019 – 2020)
  • Senior VP, McKinsey & Company (2014 - 2016)

With over 30 years of international experience across Australia, Europe, and Latin America, he has led and advised on turnarounds, M&As, capital market transactions, and start-ups worth over $30 billion. Mr. Klix has been CEO and a board member of Integral Acquisition Corporation 1 since February 2021. From January 2019 to July 2020, Mr. Klix was General Manager at Orora Cartons Australia, overseeing a successful turnaround and sale to Nippon Paper. Previously, he was Senior VP at McKinsey & Co. and CFO/Deputy CEO at McColl’s Transport, which won "Turnaround of the Year" in 2012. Mr. Klix also spent a decade in investment banking at Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup) and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, focusing on telecom M&As and capital markets. Mr. Klix holds an Economics degree from Universidad Católica Argentina and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.

Portrait

Mr. Kwong Cho Ho, ACA, Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Kwong had an extensive career with Deloitte & Touche (“Deloitte”) in London and Hong Kong, a global consulting firm, from 2009 to 2021. At Deloitte, he was a Director of the Cross Broader M&A Advisory Group. Mr. Kwong is a qualified ICAEW Chartered Accountant. Mr. Kwong holds a degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Manchester in England.

Portrait

Ms. Christina Favilla, Independent Director, Chair of the Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee

  • Chief operating officer, Sterling National Bank (July 2017 - September 2019)
  • Chief operating officer GE Capital North America (February 2012 – June 2017), a financial segment of General Electric Company, representing $100 billion in served assets across Canada, Mexico and the United States.
  • Ms. Favilla is an independent board member for Priority Technology Holdings, Opportunity Financial and Citizens State Bank of Ouray Colorado, where she is a member of Audit and Compensation Committees and Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee. As an advisor to accomplished Fintech companies, in public and private markets, focused on the financial services and payments industry, Ms. Favilla joined Ocrolus, in September 2020, one of the fastest growing Fintech companies in the U.S., blending financial documentation and machine learning.

    Ms. Favilla combined her people leadership and process disciplines and regulatory background to safely process over 3 million financial transactions each year. Ms. Favilla led a diverse team of 2,500 people across 33 locations and interacted with over 20,000 vendors. Ms. Favilla was a key member of the divestiture team at GE, leading the separation activities of the largest corporate reorganization in US market history.

    Prior to joining GE Capital, Ms. Favilla served as President of Bank of New Castle and President of Discover Bank, the banking arm of Discover Financial Services, offering online banking, credit card and home loan services, from 2006 through 2012.

    As President of Discover Bank, Ms. Favilla deployed the funding strategy to successfully launch the initial public offering of Discover Financial Services from Morgan Stanley. Ms. Favilla is a former board member of the American Bankers Association Government Relations Committee and Banking Council in Washington DC. Ms. Favilla’s community and not for profit engagements include chair of the Delaware Financial Literacy Institute, Delaware Chamber of Congress, Delaware Bankers Association and Danbury Chamber of Congress. Ms. Favilla received her Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Marymount College and received a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Fordham University.

Portrait

Mr. Niraj Javeri, Independent Director, Chair of the Audit Committee

Mr. Niraj is currently the Chief Financial Officer at Lancium Inc, an energy technology company building infrastructure and technical solutions that enable gigawatt scale data centers to be built on its campuses. He is based in San Francisco, California.

Previously, Mr. Javeri was the Vice President of Strategy at Zymergen, a science and material innovation company. Between 2010 and 2019 Mr. Javeri worked for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (“KKR”) (NYSE: KKR) in New York, Sydney, and San Francisco as part of the Special Situations team, where he sourced, diligenced, executed, and monitored investments made across a number of funds managed by KKR. Previously, Mr. Javeri was with One East Partners in London and New York, where he invested across industries in event-driven and value equities, distressed debt, and private deals. Prior to that, he worked at Goldman Sachs & Co in the Principal Investment Area where he worked on private equity investments, and at Deutsche Bank in both the Leveraged Finance and Technology investment banking groups. Mr. Javeri received a B.S. from Cornell University in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and an M.S. from Stanford University in Management Science and Engineering.

Press Releases

PFIC Statement

SEC Filings

All Filings for TLGY Acquisition Corporation Available via EDGAR

View Filings