KB Asset Management Ranks First in Alternative Investment Assets Under Management in First Half of the Year

Gap Widens with 2nd Place... Achieving 20.5 Trillion Won in Assets Under Management

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] KB Asset Management achieved the number one position in alternative investment assets under management (AUM) for the first half of this year.

KB Asset Management announced that its alternative investment AUM increased from 18.4 trillion KRW at the end of last year to 20.5 trillion KRW in the first half of this year.

As of the end of last year, the top three companies showed a narrow difference within 30 billion KRW, but since the beginning of the year, KB Asset Management’s AUM grew by more than 11%, significantly widening the gap with the second place and rising to first place.

KB Asset Management explained that this was the result of balanced performance across all sectors including infrastructure, real estate, corporate investment, and private debt funds (PDF) through portfolio diversification since CEO Lee Hyun-seung took office in 2018.

KB Asset Management manages alternative asset funds totaling 20.5 trillion KRW, including special asset funds mainly consisting of infrastructure assets worth 13.1 trillion KRW, real estate funds worth 4.8 trillion KRW, and mixed asset funds composed of corporate investment (PE) and private debt funds (PDF) worth 1.4 trillion KRW.

The remarkable growth KB Asset Management has achieved in five years is supported by excellent deal sourcing capabilities along with thorough risk management and compliance. KB Asset Management quickly shifted its focus overseas to escape the saturated domestic market, and in just five years, its overseas alternative investment AUM has sharply grown to 8.9 trillion KRW.

A KB Asset Management official said, "Although incidents such as private equity fund scandals have frequently occurred in recent years, KB Asset Management has avoided them," adding, "when employees carry out individual projects, they carefully examine market risk, credit risk, operational risk, legal risk, etc., and create and share personal checklists."

To provide stable investment options amid volatile market conditions in the first half of the year, KB Asset Management launched a PB-exclusive private overseas real estate fund, and its first public listing REIT, ‘KB Star REITs,’ is also scheduled to be listed soon.

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