Korea’s Poba invites bids for FoHF mandate

Korea’s Public Officials Benefit Association (Poba) has invited global fund-of-hedge-fund firms to pitch for a $50 million mandate, which may rise to $80 million depending on performance.

To be eligible, overseas FoHF managers must offer customised products; have at least $10 billion in total AUM and at least 10 years’ experience of running FoHFs; and should have an FoHF asset base comprised at least 30% of institutional investors.

Poba, which has $5.5 billion in AUM, also requires applicants to have self-developed asset-sourcing pipelines, due diligence capabilities, and portfolio construction capabilities under separately managed account structures.

The deadline for RFP submissions is 5pm Korea time on March 20, the date for first evaluation results March 25, and for the second evaluation result April 7.

The first round of mandate funding – for $50 million – will take place by June, says Yang Bon-Jin, general manager of Korea IM, which Poba chose as a local adviser in February. The manager may receive an additional $30 million later depending on performance.

There will be only one finalist, and Poba plans to select two managers on the short list for on-site due diligence, he tells AsianInvestor. Yang and one individual from Poba will carry out the due diligence.

Poba has no other current plans for future investments, he adds.

Korea IM also provides advisory services – under Yang’s supervision – to other institutional investors including Korea Post and Korea Teachers Credit Union.

Enquiries about submissions must be made via email. Submissions should be sent to Um Yoon-Chan at [email protected]; Yang Bong-Jin at [email protected]; and Hwang Jun-Yeon at [email protected], both of the latter two at Korea Investment Management.

Hard copy pitch submissions should be sent to: Global Investment Strategy (GIS) Management Department, Korea Investment Management, 16th Floor, 27-1, Yeouido-dong, Yeoungdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Korea 150-745.