이 기사는 2019년 12월 24일 17시14분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

South Korea’s fund of funds operator Korea Growth Investment Corp. and KB Financial Group are set to give an anchor commitment to Seoul-based ARK Impact Asset Management.

The Korea Growth Investment Corp., more commonly known as K-Growth, announced on December 18 that ARK Impact Asset Management will receive an anchor investment made through its socially responsible investing (SRI) fund-of-funds vehicle called K-Social Impact Fund.

As a condition for commiting capital, K-Growth set a minimum fund size of 25 billion won ($21.5 million). KB Financial Group and K-Growth are committing 15 billion won ($12.9 million) and five billion won ($4.3 million), respectively, to a new fund, while ARK Impact, as a general partner, will raise the remaining five billion won. The fund will be operated for about eight years and its investment period will be three to four years.

More than ten domestic asset managers participated in the race to receive an investment from this fund-of-funds vehicle. The new fund is targeting an internal rate of return of 12 percent.

“We integrate the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into our investment decision-making process with a focus on domestic social ventures,” an ARK Impact official said, adding that the asset manager’s areas of focus include pre-IPO startups, early-stage ventures and social impact projects.

K-Growth — an independent fund-of-funds investment firm — manages several fund-of-funds vehicles, including K-Social Impact Fund, to invest in domestic start-ups and small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) in cooperation with state-run and private institutions. K-Growth plans to make three investments in social impact funds through its fund-of-funds until 2022.

ARK Impact is the only asset manager specializing in impact investing in the country. Founded in 2003 with a focus on socially responsible investing, ARK Impact remade itself as an asset management firm in 2017, launching its first hedge fund that employs an impact investing strategy.

Lim Chang-gue, Senior Managing Director & CIO at ARK Impact Asset Management, has played a major role in successfully getting funded by K-Growth. Prior to ARK Impact, Lim, who graduated from Yonsei University and Tyndale Theological Seminary, held managerial positions at Samsung Asset Management and Korea Social Investment.

“For the last three years, we have built our experience of impact investing across global regions including India and Singapore,” said Lim. “I can now confidently say that the available pool of domestic unlisted social ventures has grown enough to boost impact investing in the country.”

“I think we succeeded [in getting funded] because of our enthusiasm for investing in unlisted social ventures,” he added.

(By reporters Heo In-hye and Kim Jin-hyun)