이 기사는 2021년 05월 27일 07시36분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF) GIC didn’t participate in online-only lender K bank’s capital hike as the SWF already made investment in Kakao Bank.

K bank is reportedly set to raise 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion) from new investors including Bain Capital, MBK Partners, the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives (KFCC), and a consortium of Shinhan Alternative Investment Management and JS Private Equity, industry sources said.

GIC, which K bank has worked hard to get involved since 2019, didn’t participate in the latest rights offering.

GIC and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings were among potential investors of K bank amid a dull response from existing investors when the lender was looking to raise additional capital in early 2020.

It is said that GIC didn’t participate in the latest rights offering as it already made investments in another Korean internet-only lender Kakao Bank. GIC participated as a limited partner of a fund created by TPG Capital when Kakao Bank raised money in a pre-initial public offering (pre-IPO) round in October 2020.

“GIC turned out not to have participated in the K bank’s latest capital hike despite its positive relationship with the bank,” said an industry source. “There should have been no reason (for the SWF) to make investment in the K bank after it arelady invested in Kakao Bank.”

GIC, the world’s sixth largest SWF, has continued to show its interest in the Korean financial industry. It invested 44 billion won in Viva Republica, which operates online payment service provider Toss, along with Sequoia China, in 2018.

GIC is especially interested in domestic internet-only banks amid changing dynamics of the banking sector in Singapore. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) awarded digital bank licenses to four firms including the Grab-Singtel consortium at the end of 2020. They are expected to start business from early 2022.

The MAS reportedly studied the domestic digital banking system thoroughly over the past three years to launch its own internet-only banks there, with officials visiting K bank and Kakao Bank in 2019. (Reporting by Hyun-jung Kim)