Muristek
Korea Post, state-run postal service agency of Korea
Korea Post, South Korea's state-run postal service agency, said on April 14 that its insurance arm will select two asset managers for a maximum of $200 million in overseas infrastructure debt. The insurance arm will create two closed-end commingled blind pool funds, each with up to a $100 million commitment. At least 80% of each fund will be used for senior or junior loans in infrastructure based in developed countries of North America, Europe and Oceania. Korea Post is targeting 4% of the net internal rate of return (IRR) or more in Korean won and will commit 20% or less of the final commitment to each fund. For applications, the asset managers should prove more than $10 billion of assets under management (AUM) in infrastructure and experiences in infrastructure debt strategy, including separately managed accounts (SMAs), as of April 14. A co-GP proposal won’t be accepted. Korea Post will receive applications by May 2 and undertake some qualitative and quantitative assessments, due diligence and the investment committee’s discussions for approval. It will announce the selected GPs in June. In 2020, Korea Post’s postal savings arm chose two New York-based investment firms, Argo Infrastructure Partners and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, for $200 million of overseas infrastructure investment. At least 70% of the funds will be used for equities in North America-based infrastructure assets, the postal service agency said at the time. In 2018, the insurance and savings arm jointly selected New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners and Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management to invest $400 million in offshore infrastructure equities. Korea Post manages 146 trillion won in assets as of the end-2021. The insurance arm’s AUM reaches 61 trillion won, and alternative investments make up 11.5%. The savings arm manages 85 trillion won in assets, of which alternative investments account for 8.2%. The postal service agency's target return from alternative investments is 6%.Basically pursuing low-risk and low-return investment, Korea Post is planning to gradually increase its mid-risk and moderate return in the post-pandemic era. The postal service agency will raise exposure to overseas real assets this year, with a particular focus on data centers and warehouses in developed countries, the agency's President Son Seung-hyun said during an interview with The Korea Economic Daily in February.By Tae-Ho Leethlee@hankyung.comJihyun Kim edited this article.
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