이 기사는 2021년 04월 01일 08:11 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

National Pension Service (NPS) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) seeking an alternative investment consulting firm as the South Korean pension scheme continues to increase its exposure to overseas markets.

Proposals are due on April 9 and the following month the shortlisted candidates will make virtual presentations before the fund’s evaluation committee, according to the RFP on Monday. A final selection will be made in the mid-June. The contract period will be for four years, with a possible extension of one year based on performance.

Applicants are required to be one of the top 100 consultants by assets under advisement by research firm Preqin. They must have five years or more of relevant advisory experience and also must have previously provided relevant advisory support to at least 10 institutional investors.

The successful firm will be responsible for helping NPS select global investment managers for alternative investment strategies, such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure, as well as advising on the pension fund’s strategic asset allocation and investment due diligence.

The RFP comes as the pension fund has been diverting more money to new investments abroad with a growing focus on alternative assets in order to diversify its portfolio and enhance returns.

NPS has boosted its manager roster for overseas alternative investments in recent years. It has added 15 foreign investment firms to the roster for its private equity strategy over the three years to the end of 2020, while eight and six foreign managers have been added for real estate and infrastructure strategies, respectively, in the same period. The increase brought the total number of foreign managers overseeing the pension fund’s investments in those asset classes to 162, compared to 128 three years ago.

The pension fund had 833.7 trillion won ($736.3 billion) in assets under management at the end of 2020, with overseas investments accounting for 303.9 trillion won, or 36.5% of the total assets. It plans to increase its allocation to foreign assets to 50% by 2024. (Reporting by Hee-yeon Han)