South Korea’s Government Employees Pension Service (GEPS) is looking to hire six foreign securities brokerage firms for its US$1.6 billion international portfolio.
The firms will be responsible for trading services in foreign equities, bonds, and exchange-traded funds, GEPS says in a request of proposal published on the website of the Korea Investment Financial Association on May 24.
It did not detail the eligibility criteria for applicants, saying only that the brokerages will be hired for a six-month period. The tender is open until June 11.
The document does not specify the value of the fund’s foreign portfolio but a GEPS spokesperson tells
POBA s Harry Song (second from left), GEPS Ro Seung Hwan (center), MMAA s Jang Eun Ho and Kyobo Life Insurance s Kim Chan Woo
South Korea s Government Employees Pension Service (GEPS), the Public Officials Benefit Association (POBA) and the Military Mutual Aid Association (MMAA) are shifting away from their defensive, core strategy-focused portfolios as they plan to sharply increase overseas real estate investments this year.
The GEPS, with 8.2 trillion won ($7.3 billion) in assets under management, is now looking to diversify into value-added and opportunistic investments, with the POBA raising exposure to non-core assets, their overseas alternative investment heads said on May 12.
The three pension and retirement funds all picked logistics and data centers and residential properties as their preferred asset classes, while shunning hotels and other retail assets that have not yet recovered from the impact of the global pandemic.
Lee Do-yoon had served as CIO of the Police Mutual Aid Association between 2016 and 2020
Lee Do-yoon, a former chief investment officer of South Korea s Police Mutual Aid Association (PMAA), has been named as CIO of the Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid Fund, a $13 billion savings arm of Korean small business owners.
He was among the three shortlisted candidates for the new post, including an unidentified domestic savings fund CIO, to replace Jeong Du-Yeong who is retiring at the end of this month after a two-year term. Previously, Jeong had worked as CIO of Korea Scientists and Engineers Mutual-Aid Association for four years until 2019.
CIO PANEL DISCUSSION
Chief investment officers of the Public Officials Benefit Association (POBA: Jang Dong-hun), the Teachers Pension (Lee Kyu-hong) and the Korea Scientists and Engineers Mutual-Aid Association (Huh Sung-moo) will participate in a CIO panel discussion on May 12. Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Executive Director Jeon Kyung Chul will accompany them to the discussion.
POBA CIO Jang Dong-hun (second from left), Teachers Pension CIO Lee Kyu-hong (center) and SEMA CIO Huh Sung-moo (far right)
LP PANEL SESSIONS
For the hedge fund segment, three senior managers will share their views in a group discussion: Kim Jun Geun, NPS senior portfolio manager of the private equity and venture capital investment division; KIC s senior director of the alternative investment division s absolute returns group Yoon Sunghyun; and Korea Post s insurance arm Deputy Director of hedge fund investment Su Jin Lee..
South Korea’s Government Employees Pension Service (GEPS) is looking for three international managers for a US$105 million global infrastructure mandate focusing on the North American energy sector.
The mandate is structured as a commingled close-ended equity fund with a seven-year investment period and a 7%-10% target internal rate of return, GEPS says in a request for proposal published on the website of Korea Financial Investment Association on April 21.
The fund will adopt a core and core plus investment strategy – investing in lower risk assets with stable income flows – and focus on traditional energy sectors in North America.
Applicants must have a minimum two-year track record and at least $5 billion of total infrastructure assets. They must also have at least three investment professionals with over a decade of experience in infrastructure investments.