BlackRock sheds $620 mn Korean retail fund business

BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, has sold its retail business in South Korea to a small domestic investment firm to concentrate on institutional clients, both companies said on Mar. 31.

DGB Asset Management Co., based in the city of Daegu, is taking over BlackRock's 26 retail funds sold in the country with a net asset value of around 700 billion won ($620 million). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, nor the reason for the US investment firm's withdrawal from South Korea's retail market.

BlackRock Investment Management (Korea) Ltd. will now focus its capabilities on providing overseas investment opportunities for Korean institutional investors, including offshore active and index funds as well as alternative investments, it said in a statement.

A majority of the retail funds to be acquired by DGB Asset were indirect investment products based on BlackRock's global funds. 

Last year, BlackRock was excluded from the National Pension Service’s list of global real estate investment managers, after its fund in which the NPS had invested was liquidated at maturity.

Write to Ri-Ahn Kim at knra@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.