Seowon, Chief Investment Officer of the National Pension Service, which manages 1,227 trillion won in national retirement funds, went on his first business trip to Spain since taking office. The National Pension Service, which is focusing on overseas alternative investments to maximize fund revenue, is speeding up its search for investment opportunities in the European real estate, infrastructure, and private lending markets.

Seowon Joo (third from the left), head of the National Pension Service Fund Management Headquarters, attends the overseas investment integrated system meeting held at the fund management headquarters in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do on Feb. 18. From the left are Rohan Singh, representative of BNY Mellon, Hiro Shimizu, representative of BlackRock, Seowon Joo, head of the fund management headquarters, and Min Kim, representative of State Street Bank (SSBT). /Courtesy of National Pension Service.

According to the financial investment industry on the 29th, Deputy Minister Seowon recently returned from a seven-day business trip that covered three cities in two countries: Madrid, Spain, and Edinburgh and London in the United Kingdom. Chief Investment Officer of the Fund Management Headquarters Choi Hyung-don, Infrastructure Investment Head Lee Jae-wook, and Private Lending Investment Team Leader Park Sung-jun accompanied Deputy Minister Seowon.

This was Deputy Minister Seowon's first visit to Europe in 18 months since his business trip to London in November 2023. It was his first time visiting Spain. During their time in Madrid, Deputy Minister Seowon and his team met with Park Won-woong, head of the London office, as well as Bae Sang-wan, head of the European Infrastructure Investment team, and Park Soo-yong, a member of the European Real Estate Investment team, to carry out their local schedule.

In Madrid, Deputy Minister Seowon is reported to have met with overseas asset managers in the National Pension Service's alternative investment sector, such as Asterion Industrial Partners and Greystar Real Estate Partners, to assess the status of infrastructure and real estate investment asset management. He is also known to have discussed trends and outlooks in the European private lending market with Ares Management Corporation.

Of these, Asterion is an infrastructure-specialized asset manager based in Madrid, Spain, primarily investing in communications, energy, utilities, and mobility in Western European countries. The assets under management (AUM) amount to 3 billion euros (approximately 4.6552 trillion won). Greystar, a U.S.-based real estate investment firm, specializes in modular housing, rental housing, and apartment operations. Its AUM is around 80 trillion won.

Ares is a global alternative investment manager headquartered in Los Angeles, United States, with an AUM of 520 trillion won. In Korea, Ares is known as the asset manager that invested in the prestigious Spanish football team Atletico Madrid (AT Madrid). Ares acquired a 34% stake in AT Madrid in 2021. It has also invested in the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL), McLaren Racing of Formula 1 (F1), and Olympique Lyonnais, a French professional football team.

After visiting Madrid, Deputy Minister Seowon traveled to Edinburgh and London, where he successively met with representatives of global managers such as Baillie Gifford, Walter Scott, NinetyOne, Park Square Capital, and Ardian. Kim Jong-yun, head of the overseas direct investment team from the New York office, accompanied him on the trip to the UK.

Regarding Deputy Minister Seowon's recent trip to Europe, the National Pension Service noted, "In addition to the on-site due diligence of existing investment assets, we discussed new investment opportunities" and "also explored investment strategies and cooperation plans with key local asset managers."

Deputy Minister Seowon, who completed a two-year term at the end of last year, succeeded in renewing his term for another year this year. Last year, the National Pension Service recorded its highest ever revenue rate (15%) thanks to a booming U.S. stock market and favorable exchange rates. However, this year, due to corrections in the U.S. stock market and declining exchange rates, overseas investment revenue has been weak. Consequently, the National Pension Service is accelerating diversification of overseas investment opportunities to spread risk.

In January of this year, Deputy Minister Seowon also visited Sydney and Melbourne, where he met with PEP, Australia's largest private equity fund, and global asset management firm Macquarie, as well as a large Australian pension fund, Aware Super. Deputy Minister Seowon stated, "We will consistently maintain our policy of diversifying domestic and foreign investments and risk dispersion."