이 기사는 2019년 10월 21일 08시00분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

A joint blind fund that South Korea's SK Holdings and the Korean Teachers' Credit Union (KTCU) created runs smoothly thanks to implementing quick investment decisions. The market is watching if the partnership between SK Holdings and KTCU can make an example for other private companies and financial investor (FIs).

According to industry sources on October 15, SK Group and KTCU has decided to invest in a U.S.-based gathering & processing (G&P) company via their 1.2 trillion won joint fund. A private equity firm, IMM Investment has been hired as a general partner (GP) to manage KTCU's fund.

SK Holdings, the holding company of SK Group, and KTCU created the latest joint fund to make cross-border investments in high-growth businesses. SK Holdings has enhanced its overseas business to secure new growth engines in the global markets. KTCU also has paid close attention to expand and seek out overseas investment opportunities.

SK Holdings has focused on fostering new growth drivers like pharmaceutical, bio-pharma, energy and materials. As part of the plan, the company acquired AMPAC, a U.S.-based manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients and invested in China's largest copper foil producer, Lingbao Wason Copper Foil.
했다.
The company also has been active in investing in midstream assets in North America. Investing in midstream assets carries less risk exposure than investing in exploration-and-production (upstream) companies. Investors can expect stable returns regardless of oil and gas prices, as fee-based contracts take up large portion of their sales. Last year, SK Holdings made an investment in a U.S.-based G&P company, Eureka Midstream Holdings. Eureka has an office in the Marcellus-Utica Basin, which is the largest natural gas reserve in North America. Also last year, SK Holdings co-invested in Brazos Midstream Holdings with the National Pension Service (NPS) through a project fund led by Morgan Stanley.

Unlike other domestic conglomerates, which take conservative investment stance, SK Group has been open to co-investment to make synergy out of it. Last year, SK Telecom and Macquarie Private Equity jointly acquired the largest local security firm, ADT Caps.

The market views in partnership with SK Holdings, KTCU can benefit from SK Holdings' investment expertise in global markets. KTCU, with 37 trillion won of assets under management, is the largest association of its kind in Korea. KTCU invested in 300 billion won in the mergers and acquisition (M&A) deal of Toshiba's memory chip unit. The association also invested 260 billion won in total in ADT Caps deal.

The joint fund can be a win-win for both as SK Holdings can reduce the burden of collecting funds thanks to FIs like KTCU, while KTCU can invest in high quality assets abroad in partnership with SK Group. SK Group has invested four trillion won in overseas assets since 2016.

The industry pays attention to both institutions amid NPS-led Corporate Partnership Fund (COPA fund) hasn't showed much achievement since its launch to help domestic companies to advance into overseas markets.

A lot of blue-chip companies including Lotte, CJ, POSCO, GS, KT&G have formed COPA fund with NPS since 2011, but failed to produce the desired outcome. The COPA fund which CJ and STIC Investment set up is the only fund that has spent most of its committed capital. After that, NPS has been discussing for months with Hyundai Department Store Group and SK Group about the launch of COPA funds worth 600 billion won and 800 billion won, respectively, though neither has been formed yet.

(By reporter Kim Hye-ran)