POBA to pick 2 global infrastructure fund firms in June for $85 mln investment – report

South Korea’s Public Officials Benefit Association (POBA), a savings fund for local public officials, plans to select two offshore infrastructure investment companies in June to commit 100 billion won (about $85 million) in aggregate, Yonhap Infomax reported on May 23.

The report cited an unnamed financial industry source as saying that POBA will allot 50 billion won to each of two global infrastructure fund houses, without giving further details.

POBA has been ramping up investments in overseas alternative assets since the start of this year, in pursuit of annual returns of 5~6%.

Its Chief Investment Officer Dong-hun Jang, who took office last November, told the Korea Economic Daily in a recent interview that the savings fund plans to allocate 480 billion won (about $410 million) to new alternative investments in 2016 alone, and alternative investments may top 50% of its total assets under management.

The news agency also reported that POBA had selected a consortium of South Korea’s IGIS Asset Management and CBRE Global Investors as a real estate fund general partner. Earlier this month, POBA had said it will allocate 250 billion won (about $220 million) for buying core office buildings in major European countries.