This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 10:20 a.m. on Mar. 24, 2026.
As NH-Amundi Asset Management is pushing to acquire management control of Taean Anmyeon Clean Energy (TACE), the largest solar power plant in Korea, attention is focusing on its relationship with the existing general partner (GP), Lantern A&I. NH-Amundi Asset Management has outwardly said it will replace Lantern A&I, but it is understood to be pursuing a plan to sign a separate contract with a new company to be established by Lantern A&I's CEO and split fees. The industry notes this could be seen not as a simple "advisory contract" but as a de facto "co-GP" structure.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 24th, NH-Amundi Asset Management recently submitted to its board a proposal for a new GP to join the TACE investment fund. The board is said to have settled on conditionally approving the proposal.
The conditions presented by the board are said to include that there must be no linkage with Lantern A&I, the existing GP of TACE.
Behind these conditions is the contract structure NH-Amundi Asset Management is pursuing. NH-Amundi Asset Management is said to have signed an advisory contract with a special purpose company (SPC) established by Lantern A&I's CEO A. The SPC would provide advice to NH-Amundi Asset Management related to approval as an electricity business operator.
On form alone, this may look like a typical advisory contract. But many in the industry say it is hard to see this structure as mere advisory. The plan reportedly being pursued would have the SPC share not only advisory fees but also the fund's management and performance fees. Although it is outwardly an advisory contract, considering the economic interests and scope of roles, it is effectively closer to a co-management structure.
An IB industry official said, "Typically, advisory contracts are structured to pay a fixed fee," adding, "If management and performance fees are also shared, there is room to interpret it as de facto co-management regardless of the label."
The matter is sensitive because NH-Amundi Asset Management cited "severing ties with Lantern A&I" as the rationale for the GP change. The plan to switch the TACE investment fund's GP from Lantern A&I to NH-Amundi Asset Management has been underway since early February this year, after Lantern A&I's former CEO became entangled in a solar permitting corruption case. However, as it emerged that a separate contract was signed with a new company on the Lantern A&I side even after NH-Amundi Asset Management joined, questions have arisen in the market as to whether this GP change can be seen as a substantive severance.
TACE is the largest privately financed solar power plant in Korea, built at 330 megawatts (MW) on a 6.15 million-square-meter site around Anmyeondo in Taean County, South Chungcheong Province. Commercial operation began in Aug. 2023, and total project cost is 476.4 billion won. Of that, 190 billion won was injected by KKR and Lantern A&I in the form of mezzanine and subordinated loans, and the remaining 285.4 billion won was raised through senior loans from domestic financial institutions. Initially, three individual shareholders contributed 1 billion won in capital, and by Feb. 2024 they agreed to transfer their entire equity to the KKR–Lantern side for 10 billion won.
However, as the probe into solar permitting corruption ramped up, the deal structure became complicated. After public officials and a Lantern A&I figure were indicted last year, the individual shareholders argued, on that basis, that it would be difficult to perform under the existing contract. Subsequently, KKR obtained approval from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to acquire TACE shares, then moved to secure management control by declaring an event of default (EOD) after purchasing the lenders' loan claims and Lantern A&I fund equity. In practice, KKR, through affiliate Create Asset Management, acquired loan claims held by Woori Bank and Bank of China, and discussed sale terms with the remaining lenders.
Meanwhile, some stakeholders separately pushed to bring in NH-Amundi Asset Management as the new GP, outwardly arguing that doing so would distance the fund from Lantern A&I and reduce uncertainty in future approval procedures.
The question is whether authorities can accept this as a "substantive severance" if, even with NH-Amundi Asset Management at the forefront, an SPC on the Lantern A&I side shares economic benefits through a separate contract. The industry believes substance is likely to matter more than form in reviews related to electricity business operators. Even if the GP changes on paper, if core former staff continue to receive management and performance fees through a separate entity, it could be interpreted that Lantern's substantive influence remains.
An IB industry official said, "The question is not whether NH-Amundi comes in, but whether the Lantern side substantively remains after it comes in," adding, "If this is not resolved, the GP change could continue to be hampered, and normalization of TACE, which already has an EOD event, could be delayed accordingly."