Real estate investment head resigns from KIC

The head of real estate investment at Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) has resigned from the South Korean sovereign wealth fund. Cha Hoon, appointed as real estate team head in a senior management shuffle in August of this year, has recently left KIC.

Before joining KIC in December 2012, Cha worked for Carlyle Group from 2007 to 2012 and Goldman Sachs from 2005 to 2007. Although he is reportedly moving back to the private equity investment sector, KIC would not confirm it.

KIC said James Jongho Kim, appointed as alternative investment division head and deputy chief investment officer in June 2020, is temporarily in charge of the real estate investment division. The corporation would not disclose whether it will look to select Cha’s successor in-house or hire outside personnel.

KIC’s assets under management reached $201 billion as of end-August 2021. The sovereign wealth fund plans to increase alternative investments to 25% of its portfolio by 2027 from the current 16%, its CEO Jin Seoungho said on Oct. 27 at The Korea Economic Daily’s alternative investment forum ASK 2021. 

Meanwhile, two senior division heads at National Pension Service (NPS) also tendered their resignations, according to pension fund industry sources on Monday. Kim Jee-Yeon, head of infrastructure investment, and Kim Hyun-Soo, head of real estate investment, were promoted to the positions in early 2019 and are reportedly moving to the private sector.

The two division heads are the third-highest posts at NPS Investment Management after the chief investment officer and the managing director of investment strategy, responsible for investment and corporate governance.

Write to Chang-Jae Yoo at yoocool@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.