NPS sets up $860 mn Vietnam investment fund with SK Group

The National Pension Service (NPS) has launched a 1 trillion won ($860 million) fund with SK Group to invest in Vietnamese companies, through which the South Korean conglomerate could ramp up investment in Vietnam’s two biggest companies – Vingroup and Massan Group.

For the corporate partnership (COPA) fund, NPS and SK will contribute 500 billion won, respectively. It will be managed by South Korea’s SKS Private Equity and Stonebridge Capital , according to investment banking sources on Dec. 18.

NPS has set up COPA funds with domestic companies, including power utility KEPCO, to help their overseas expansion since 2011.

The NPS-SK fund comes after SK Group invested $1 billion to buy a 6.1% stake in Vietnam’s biggest company Vingroup in May, following its $470 million investment in Masan Group for a 9.4% stake in 2018.

Alongside the investments, SK Group received an option to co-invest in new businesses with the Vietnamese companies and priority rights to make an equity investment for their M&A deals and to buy a stake in units of the Vietnamese groups when they are floated on the stock market.

Earlier this month, SK Group said that it will establish a 1 trillion won fund with China’s private equity firm Hillhouse Capital Group to invest in Chinese start-ups.

By Jung-hwan Hwang

jung@hankyung.com