이 기사는 2020년 02월 24일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

South Korea’s state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) is exploring possibilities to launch a global fund that invests in foreign companies in a bid to support domestic venture capital (VC) firms to enter the global market.

According to VC industry sources on February 19, KDB’s Indirect investment banking department has started discussing possibilities of including a global fund as one of its subfunds. The lender’s Indirect investment banking department is responsible for reviewing investments in VC firms.

A specific plan has not been set yet. The lender is gathering views and opinions about the scope of investments as a policy bank. The fund is likely to seek foreign companies as well as South Korean companies who are willing to expand their global footprints. KDB is expected to create a detailed plan after collecting feedbacks from market insiders.

Over the past few years, South Korean VC firms have invested in foreign companies to diversify their portfolios amid easing regulations on domestic VC firms’ foreign investment. Many VC firms have reportedly asked KDB to support the globalization of the VC ecosystem.

General Partners (GPs) of a global fund are likely to be limited to domestic VC firms so that it fulfills the objective of the fund, which aims to enhance domestic VCs’ foreign investment capabilities.

Market watchers pay attention to whether the global fund will revive foreign investment activities, which have been sluggish since the launch of the global expansion fund. KDB participated as one of the major limited partners (LP) of the global expansion fund in 2015, which invests not only in domestic firms who are willing to enter the global market but in foreign venture companies.

“Investment in foreign companies has been insignificant so far. The market has come to a consensus on the necessity of the expansion of foreign investments so we just began discussing the issue,” said a KDB official.

(By reporter Seo Jeong-eun)