Eximbank Korea to create health care funds worth W400b

The state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea said Monday that it intends to create two funds worth a total of 400 billion won ($325.2 million) to help South Korean health care companies go global.

The money will go to Korean companies devoted to immunotherapy, gene therapy, health care systems, diagnostic kits and medical devices. It will be used to support them in exporting more products, clinching more overseas investment and expanding to foreign markets.

Of the total, Eximbank Korea has committed 100 billion won, with the rest coming from its partners.

Eximbank Korea will select up to three partners to stimulate small and midsized enterprises dedicated to combining health care technologies with information and communications technology. The lender will back 75 billion won of the 300 billion won fund. The other fund, worth 100 billion won, will go to venture firms that are dedicated to pharmaceutical products or medical devices and that have one partner.

Asset management firms that have operated for over three years and obtain a commitment of at least 100 billion won as of April are eligible to apply by April 17. Partners will be selected by May. Fund managers are obliged to create the new funds by November.

“In the worldwide pandemic situation, Korea’s outstanding diagnostic technologies and medical system are garnering global attention,” Eximbank Korea Chief Executive Bang Moon-kyu said in a statement. “(The funds) will shore up funding to Korean companies and help them take the lead in the global market.”

This year alone, Eximbank Korea has committed a combined 575 billion won to information technology, overseas infrastructure development and marine technologies.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)