This article was published on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:54 p.m. on Sep. 17, 2025.
The buyout-focused private equity firm VIG Partners extended the maturity of its third fund, which it used to acquire funeral services company FreedLife. Although it scored a windfall exit by selling FreedLife to Woongjin in May, other investments have seen delayed capital recoveries.
According to the investment banking industry on the 17th, VIG Partners recently extended the lifespan of VIG Partners Third Fund to Sep. 2026, a one-year extension. As a first maturity extension, the firm reportedly presented the extension proposal to limited partners such as the National Pension Service and the Government Employees Pension Service and secured LP consent.
VIG Partners Third Fund was VIG Partners' third blind fund and was registered in Sep. 2016. Structured at about 700 billion won with a nine-year investment period, VIG Partners carried out buyout investments to acquire control of seven corporations, including FreedLife, Autoplus, PNC Labs, Yooyoung Industry, Foodist, and Bonchon.
Deteriorating market conditions and transaction delays led to the fund's lifespan being extended. As of this month, when the original maturity arrived, only three of the seven investments — FreedLife, Foodist and StarVision — had completed capital recovery, amounting to about 40% of the total.
VIG Partners is expected to speed up capital recovery this year and next. It reportedly presented strategies for early recovery of investments in the remaining four portfolio companies and obtained LP consent to extend the fund's maturity. VIG Partners has already begun the sale processes for Autoplus and PNC Labs.
Although capital recovery has been delayed, the recovery results themselves are said to be strong. VIG earned more than four times its invested principal from the May sale of FreedLife, and achieved double returns on invested principal from the sales of contact lens specialist StarVision and food distribution company Foodist.
An investment banking industry official said, "A maturity extension is a sign of delayed recovery, but it does not mean the fund's performance is poor," and added, "Some principal recovery has already been achieved, and the remaining portfolio companies, such as chicken franchise Bonchon, have high value, so LPs supported extending the maturity rather than early liquidation."