이 기사는 2021년 04월 30일 07:56 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Tenders launched by the National Pension Service (NPS) to award private equity mandates worth a combined $1 billion have attracted strong attention from investment firms.

South Korean state pension fund received 15 proposals after it issued a request for proposals a month ago to invest in traditional private equity funds and co-investment funds, industry sources said.

The pension fund plans to commit a combined 600 billion won ($541.2 million) to four firms for the traditional private equity fund category. The RFP said the applying firms can propose the funding allocation in the range between 80 billion won and 200 billion won.

NPS, which eliminated the fund size categories in its tenders for private equity mandates last year, did the same this year to maximize competition.

It also plans to invest another 600 billion won in two co-investment funds. The pension fund started to award co-investment fund mandates in 2017.

With co-investment funds, NPS can make investment decisions more quickly when investment opportunities arise. For traditional blind-pool funds, general partners need to get approval from limited partners, like NPS, to deploy additional capital to an investment.

NPS will shortlist candidates in the coming weeks, followed by interviews and due diligence. Final selections are expected in June. (Reporting by Hee-yeon Han)