South Korea's NPS to invest 800B won in private equities

South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS) will invest a combined 800 billion won in private equities with five firms.

NPS, the world's third-largest public pension fund, will commit 160 billion won each to Macquarie Asset Management Korea, Glenwood Private Equity, SkyLake Investment, JKL Partners, and IMM Investment.

The private equity firms will be managing funds with a 10-year maturity, whose investments must be completed within five years from the fund's creation.

According to NPS, the five partners may each draw more investments from limited partners to create the private equity fund.

NPS was overseeing some 89.8 trillion won alternative assets, covering 12.4 percent of its entire assets under management, as of the end of April.

NPS Chief Investment Officer Ahn Hyo-joon noted that they continuously diversify their portfolios by increasing their exposure to alternative investment.