KOREA CAPITAL MARKET INSTITUTE

It has been already 10 years since Korea introduced private equity funds (PEFs) as part of the policy drive to nurture Korea’s private capital for corporate and financial restructuring. Despite the short history and growing pains, Korea’s PEFs have achieved remarkable growth. At a time when the low-growth trend in the Korean economy poses imminent challenges for restructuring and new growth engines, PEFs’ business support and value-enhancing activities for restructuring and higher corporate efficiency will play a pivotal role in helping the economy take another leap forward and the capital markets attain further growth.  

Thus far, the industry, academia, and policy authorities have exerted multi-faceted efforts for private equity (PE) market development. In 2014, PE firms inaugurated the Korea Private Equity Association, an unincorporated association purporting to enhance understanding of member firms and facilitate sound development of the PE market. Currently, the Korea Private Equity Association has a total of 50 member firms striving to further develop Korea’s PE market. As part of the efforts, the Korea Private Equity Association and KCMI have carried out in-depth research on outcomes of Korea’s PEFs for the past decade as well as future directions. At this conference titled “Korea’s PEF Market: Prospect and Retrospect”, the research results will be shared and discussed.