이 기사는 2021년 10월 14일 08:02 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Military Mutual Aid Association (MMAA) of South Korea is seeking eight managers for private equity (PE) mandates worth 150 billion won ($125 million).

The South Korean fund made an announcement on its website on Tuesday seeking eight managers for a 150 billion won PE mandate, industry sources said.

MMAA will pick six PE firms for the regular category and commit 20 billion won for each manager. To qualify, PE firms have to have raised more than 30% of a minimum fund size from domestic institutional investors. MMAA will also select two rookie managers to commit 15 billion won for each. Firms must be less than five years old to qualify.

Proposals are due October 22, with the process to be followed by presentations in November and due diligence on managers in November or December.

MMAA has chosen its managers every year since it first introduced the beauty contest system in 2016. The beauty contest is where bidders for the mandates compete against each other by making a presentation to MMAA. It awarded mandates twice last year when it newly created a rookie league that is designed to enable smaller firms to compete with those of a similar size.

Market insiders are paying attention to whether managers that were awarded by MMAA last year will be able to win the competition this year. In November 2020, IMM Investment and JKL Partners were picked as PE managers for the regular category and J& PE was selected as the rookie manager.

Managers who were previously awarded PE mandates by the National Pension Service (NPS) may also be selected again by the MMAA. NPS selected Keistone Partners, E&F PE, Crescendo Equity Partners, and EUM PE as its PE managers in June. (Reporting by Gyoung-tae Kim)