이 기사는 2020년 03월 17일 08시00분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

South Korea’s SKS Private Equity (SKS PE) and Daishin Private Equity (Daishin PE) are expected to close its fund at the end of March with around 250 billion won in commitments from an array of limited partners, significantly exceeding its initial target.

According to investment banking (IB) industry sources on March 12, SKS PE and Daishin PE who were picked as external managers by Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Korea Growth Investment Corporation (K-Growth) will close their fund this month with between 240 billion won and 250 billion won in commitments. The fund has secured additional 70 billion won, with its initial fundraising target set at 170 billion won.

As of the end of 2019, SKS PE and Daishin PE have secured around 200 billion won and the two general partners have garnered 40 billion won more until early 2020. The two firms were hired as external managers for the growth-cap league in an investment program led by the state-run bank and the state-run fund-of-funds operator. SKS PE and Daishin PE are expected to close the fund one year after they kicked off their fundraising process.

The two PE firms secured anchor capital worth 60 billion won from KDB. After that, they were hired as external managers by Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance (IACI) of Korea and Scientists & Engineers Mutual-aid Association (SEMA) last year and received 50 billion won and 30 billion won, respectively. They also were selected as external managers by Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association (CWMA) to receive commitments worth 25 billion won in January 2020.

SKS PE and Daishin PE’s fundraising has gone smoothly thanks to solid track records that have been built by the two as joint general partners. They are jointly managing 200 billion won worth Daishin SKS Secondary Private Equity Fund since July 2016. The fund invested seven billion won in South Korean game developer PearlAbyss and reaped 38.2 billion won, making an exit worth more than five times invested capital in just one year. The PE firms have proved their deal sourcing ability through their investments in ADT Caps (40 billion won), Hanwha Systems (25 billion won) and Bagelcode (13 billion won).

The fact that SKS PE has sourced major deals last year including Korea’s new OTT platform Wave (200 billion won) and local app market OneStore (100 billion won) is likely to have been a tailwind to the fundraising.

(By reporter Kim Hye-ran)