This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 5:13 p.m. on Aug. 27, 2026.
Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) is pushing a plan to make a contribution in kind of all Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) shares it holds to the Saechulbal Fund, the debt adjustment body for small business owners and the self-employed. It would transfer to the Saechulbal Fund, after about four years, the KEC equity it received from the government during KAMCO's capital increase in 2022.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 27th, KAMCO recently began the valuation process for the contribution in kind of KEC shares. It sent out requests for proposal (RFP) to financial institutions and moved to select an external advisor.
The contribution in kind covers all 44,992,352 KEC shares held by KAMCO. KAMCO plans to determine the contribution amount based on an external expert assessment of the share value of unlisted KEC. Unlike listed shares, there is no market-formed transaction price, so a process to calculate fair value is necessary.
The contribution in kind appears to be a move to use KAMCO's policy-purpose assets as resources for debt adjustment amid continuing demand for support from the Saechulbal Fund.
The Saechulbal Fund is a public debt adjustment program launched to reduce the debt burden of small business owners and the self-employed who struggled after COVID-19 and to support their recovery. KAMCO operates it by purchasing nonperforming or potentially nonperforming claims from financial companies to adjust debt, or by supporting brokerage-type debt adjustment through the Credit Counseling & Recovery Service (CCRS).
Demand for support is significant. As of the end of July this year, 211,000 people had applied for debt adjustment on a total of 33.4 trillion won in debt, according to KAMCO. Of these, 147,000 people signed debt adjustment agreements totaling 13.5 trillion won. The average principal reduction rate is 74%, and the average interest rate cut is 5.4 percentage points.
Initially focused on borrowers hit by COVID-19, the Saechulbal Fund has taken on a larger role as a policy finance tool as the scope of beneficiaries and the system expanded. This year, the Financial Services Commission and KAMCO incorporated borrowers' assets such as virtual assets and unlisted shares into screening and refined the system by differentiating principal reduction levels based on repayment capacity.
At the same time, the importance of securing resources to operate the Saechulbal Fund stably is growing. The fund uses resources raised from government investment and KAMCO lending to purchase target claims from financial companies and carry out debt adjustment. This contribution in kind can be seen as a means of expanding resources in that KAMCO will transfer its assets to the fund as resources without liquidating them.
KAMCO came to hold KEC shares due to a government contribution in kind. In 2022, the government handed over to KAMCO KEC equity worth about 400 billion won and Korea Airports Corporation (KAC) equity worth about 250 billion won to shore up KAMCO's capital. It was a step to bolster KAMCO's capital capacity using public institution equity and support policy functions such as resolving nonperforming loans.
The actual size of resources attributed to the Saechulbal Fund will be determined by the assessed value of KEC shares. How the fair value of KEC shares is calculated is the key variable in this contribution in kind. An industry official said, "Unlisted public institution shares lack market prices, so the process of determining fair value is crucial."