This article was published on June 11, 2025, at 5:57 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site.
The National Pension Service, a 'big player' with assets reaching 1,200 trillion won, is expected to announce the recruitment of a private equity fund (PEF) trust management company as early as next month. Before the announcement, it plans to finalize the conditions for the request for proposals (RFP) by the end of this month, and it is reported to be considering adding wording in light of the Homeplus situation.
According to investment banking (IB) industry sources on the 11th, Seowon Joo, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the National Pension Service, reportedly stated during the fund management committee meeting held on the 29th of last month that "I will revise the private equity fund investment guidelines and aim to create a draft by June."
On this day, the Deputy Minister's comments were responses to questions from committee members present at the meeting. When some members pointed out that "a company acquired by a private equity fund with investments from the National Pension Service has entered corporate rehabilitation, preventing workers from receiving job security" in reference to the Homeplus situation, he replied that he would proactively propose conditions that might prevent such issues in this year's investment business.
A fund committee member said, "However, I understand that (the Deputy Minister) did not specifically say how he would do it and provided a general response."
Industry sources believe that the National Pension Service may add several investment conditions due to concerns regarding the Homeplus situation. For example, there is discussion about including a clause stating, "M&A that is expected to result in job reductions due to excessive restructuring should not be conducted," or imposing restrictions related to asset sales or loan-to-value (LTV) ratios for acquisition financing.
Some are suggesting that before changing the repayment conditions of the redeemable convertible preferred stock (RCPS), Homeplus did not obtain the National Pension Service's consent, raising the possibility of formalizing a prior reporting obligation. However, this could excessively violate the authority of the asset management company, potentially conflicting with capital market laws, and may also impose a burden from the Deputy Minister's perspective, making it less realistic, according to industry insiders.
A private equity (PE) source explained, "If the National Pension Service formalizes such conditions this time, and the asset management company cannot change the RCPS issuance conditions, leading to serious losses ten years later, discussions regarding the National Pension Service's accountability may arise then."
In February, the National Pension Service committed to investing in MBK Partners, JKL Partners, Praxis Capital, and Premier Partners while specifying in its articles of incorporation that it would not participate in hostile M&A. At that time, if such conditions had been presented during the contract stage after selecting the trust management company, this time it intends to specify them in the RFP from the recruitment announcement stage.