이 기사는 2021년 04월 08일 08시06분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Korea Growth Investment Corp (K-Growth), which recently finalized investment firms for a regular round of New Deal mandates, plan to start a process to award more New Deal mandates on a rolling basis.

KDB and K-Growth are expected to issue a request for proposals later this month.

The format is likely to be similar to that of the regular contest, which consisted of two categories, blind-pool funds and project funds.

Each vehicle proposed by interested managers for the blind-pool fund category was required to invest 60% or more of its size in 40 business areas specified in the government's guidelines on the New Deal investment and 50% or more in smaller domestic companies, at the same time.

The amount of New Deal mandates awarded on a rolling basis is expected to be similar to or slightly smaller than that of the regular mandates, which was around 745 billion won ($667 million) in total.

KDB and K-Growth are reportedly discussing whether to focus on regional development or aim to provide opportunities to new and young investment firms.

“KDB and K-Growth seemingly want to award more mandates to newly-established private equity firms and venture capital firms that have relatively small amount of assets under management in this round of contest,” said an industry source.

KDB and K-Growth received proposals from 84 firms during the regular tender process, including private equity firms, venture capital firms and asset managers. Total 26 investment firms were selected amid intense competition.

The category of funds smaller than 120 billion won had the strongest competition, with eight managers selected out of 37 firms. Most of the applicants were venture capital firms.

The category of funds worth over 120 billion won was the least competitive, with Shinhan Venture Investment, Aju IB Investment and Company K Partners awarded mandates. (Reporting by Byung-yoon Kim)