KIC's private equity head to lead alternatives

Kim’s predecessor, Sooyong Jung, is taking up a compliance officer role, the sovereign wealth fund said in a statement. This coincides with the elevation of Ji-Hwan Jung from compliance officer to COO. Meanwhile, Hoon Lee moves from head of asset allocation to group head of investment strategy, a position previously held by Dae-yang Park alongside that of CIO. Park was brought in as CIO last August from Korea Teachers’ Pension, where he performed the same role.

Kim (pictured) – who is also known as James – was previously head of real estate and infrastructure at KIC, taking responsibility for fund investments and direct investments. Before that he worked for Hanwha Group, taking on roles such as senior manager for M&A and corporate strategy in the chairman’s office and head of overseas alternative investments at Hanwha Life Insurance.

Speaking at the AVCJ Korea Forum last year, Kim observed that LP appetite for co-investment has made it harder to secure access to deals. "You have to be aggressive and tell them you are interested,” he said. “Even when we are big, their fund sizes are bigger. They look at their investor base and give opportunities to CPPIB [Canada Pension Plan Investment Board], which makes the largest [fund] commitments.”

KIC has $157.3 billion in assets as of year-end 2019. Of this, $24.5 billion was in alternatives, including $9.3 billion in private equity and $5.1 billion in real estate and infrastructure. The alternatives allocation fell from 16.4% in 2018 to 15.6% in 2019.

The alternatives division was established in 2009 and initially focused on fund investments. KIC made its first direct private equity investment in 2010 and started co-investing alongside portfolio GPs in 2011. The private equity portfolio has generated an annualized return of 8.09% since inception. KIC’s overall return since it was established in 2005 is 4.6%.

The sovereign wealth fund recently published its first annual sustainable investment report.

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