Private Equity Funds of Asset Management Firms in Their 50s Reach 363 Trillion Won... Up 62% Compared to 3 Years Ago

Securities, Real Estate, and Special Assets Increase... Rapid Rise Alone
Accounting for Over Half of Collective Investment Size... Samsung Asset Management Leads with 48 Trillion Won

Victims of Daishin Securities in the Lime Scandal held a press conference on April 23 in front of the Financial Supervisory Service in Yeouido, urging the prosecution of Daishin Securities.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Koh Hyung-kwang] An analysis has revealed that the scale of private equity funds managed by the top 50 domestic asset management companies has significantly increased compared to three years ago.

According to CEO Score, a corporate evaluation firm, the total assets under management by the top 50 domestic asset management companies by asset size amounted to 1,142.1979 trillion KRW as of September this year. This represents a 25.3% increase compared to 911.3947 trillion KRW in December 2017.

In particular, private equity funds grew even faster. During this period, the balance of private equity fund subscriptions reached 363.4547 trillion KRW, marking a 61.7% increase. In contrast, subscription balances for securities (-2.8%), real estate (-22.8%), and special assets (-15.6%) decreased during the same period.

The scale of private equity funds managed by the top 50 asset management companies accounted for 56.1% of the total collective investment assets under management. Despite recent controversies surrounding the suspension of redemptions in private equity funds such as Lime Asset Management and Optimus, there is still a high dependence on private equity funds, which carry high volatility and risk.

Among the surveyed asset management companies, Samsung Asset Management had the largest private equity fund subscription balance at 48 trillion KRW, followed by Korea Investment Trust Management (43 trillion KRW), Mirae Asset Global Investments (41 trillion KRW), KB Asset Management (22 trillion KRW), and Kiwoom Asset Management (18 trillion KRW).

Park Joo-geun, CEO of CEO Score, stated, "While asset management companies maintain a revenue structure dependent on high-risk private equity funds, the proportion of salaries relative to operating income approaches an average of 30%. Caution is needed regarding the rapid increase in the scale of private equity funds."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.