NPS and six Korean LPs commit $730 mn to Ardian's infra secondaries

Seven South Korean limited partners have committed $730 million to Paris-headquartered alternative asset manager Ardian SA’s secondaries fund ASF VIII Infrastructure, three sources familiar with the matter told The Korea Economic Daily. Ardian launched the $4 billion fund targeting a 15% internal rate of return in August of this year.

The seven Korean investors are the National Pension Service (NPS), Korea Teachers’ Credit Union (KTCU), Public Officials Benefit Association (POBA), Government Employees Pension Service (GEPS), National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NongHyup), Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association (CWMA) and an unknown institutional investor, the sources said.

The fund has also received $200 million and $80 million commitments from Taiwanese insurers Fubon Life Insurance Co. and Cathay Life Insurance Co., respectively, according to the sources.

The French private equity firm has strengthened its tie-ups with Korean LPs in the second half of this year. In July, GEPS said it has newly hired Ardian to manage a $35 million overseas infrastructure blind fund as the pension fund’s first overseas infrastructure investment. 

At the end of November, Korea’s state-run postal savings and insurance agency Korea Post announced it selected the French asset manager to manage investments of up to $50 million in developed countries in North America and Western Europe. 

Ardian currently has $120 billion in assets under management. The French asset manager is looking to increase private equity investments in Asia, setting its sights on the technology, media, online service and healthcare sectors that have been continuing to grow despite the pandemic, its head of Singapore and Korea Won Ha said in July last year. 

In June 2020, the French firm said it raised a record $19 billion for its eighth-generation secondaries platform ASF VIII from 275 investors, including a $100 million commitment from Korea Post and $50 million from POBA.

Write to Chang-Jae Yoo at yoocool@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.