Mirae, Koramco, Hana shortlisted for Korea Post’s core real estate fund

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Koramco REITs Management and Trust Co. and Hana Alternative Asset Management Co. were shortlisted for the mandate of more than 600 billion won ($420.1 million) in core real estate fund investment by Korea Post.

The state agency plans to select a manager from among them as early as this month after conducting due diligence including qualitative assessments, a source at the national postal service said on Monday.

Korea Post is set to allocate about 500 billion won to the selected manager to set up the fund of more than 600 billion won.

The agency decided to spend more than half of the fund on offices in key areas of Seoul and the rest on logistics centers in the Seoul metropolitan area, with an investment period of less than two years and a fund maturity of less than 12 years.

Korea Post last set up a core real estate fund in 2022, when it selected Mirae Asset as a fund manager and allocated 400 billion won to it.

LESS STRICT THAN NPS

Domestic asset managers place high hopes on Korea Post’s latest core real estate fund as it is less strict on investment targets and return requirements than the domestic core real estate platform fund of South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS), investment banking industry sources said.

The NPS, the world’s third-largest pension fund, will grant 250 billion won each to three core platform fund managers: KB Asset Management, Samsung SRA Asset Management and Capstone Asset Management.

Several real estate investment firms such as IGIS Asset Management Co., which the NPS did not select, were known to have sought to be selected by Korea Post, according to investment banking industry sources.

The state agency picked the three asset managers after screening seven or eight investment firms, which submitted proposals by the end of last month.

Write to Gyeong-Jin Min at min@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.