Korea's KIC appoints new CEO

Eun's previous posts include deputy minister of international affairs at Korea's Ministry of Strategy & Finance and assistant secretary to the president for economic policy between 2005 and 2006, according to a release.

His predecessor as head of KIC, Hong-Chul Ahn, stepped down last November, two years into a three-year term, citing personal reasons. He was criticized for poor investment performance, mismanagement and alleged irregularities. Ahn was also linked to an aborted purchase of a stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team that is being investigated by state auditors.

As of year-end 2014, KIC had $84.7 billion in assets, of which $6.8 billion was deployed in alternatives. The fund had $3.2 billion in private equity, $1.9 billion in hedge funds and $1.5 billion in real estate. The private equity portfolio has grown from $2.6 billion in 2013 and $1.08 billion in 2012.

The private equity return - in US dollar terms - since it began investing in the asset class in 2009 is 6.99%, and 8.3% for alternatives as a whole. KIC's five-year overall annualized return is 7.4% and annualized returns since inception stand at 4.1%. It also outperformed the government-set benchmark last year to generate a return of 10.03%.

Ahn said during an address in July to mark the 10th anniversary of the sovereign wealth fund's formation that he wanted to increase the alternatives allocation to 50% from the current level of 8%. He drew comparisons to the approaches taken by Yale University and other US endowments as well as pension funds such as a Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).

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