Macquarie IM Korea rebranded after local PEF assumes control

Macquarie Investment Management Korea has been rebranded as Feynman Asset Management upon an acquisition deal proposed by a South Korean private equity firm, the company said Monday.

The asset management company, which oversees some 1.3 trillion won ($1.2 billion) worth of assets, has named Kim Eun-soo to lead the company. Kim is the former head of the Korean unit of Hong Kong-based Mason Group Holdings.

Feynman Invest, a fledgling private equity firm, gained regulatory approval from the Financial Services Commission on March 31 to buy a 100 percent stake in what was formerly the loss-making Korean arm of Australia-based Macquarie Investment Management. The deal was finalized Friday.

Feynman Invest established the first fund, worth 10 billion won, in October to acquire the asset management firm.

Feynman Asset said in a statement that it would launch more products associated with alternative investing, such as corporate financing, venture capital and private equities.

Before the acquisition, Macquarie IM Korea had been dedicated to equities and fixed-income investing strategies. The company, formerly ING Investment Management’s Korean unit, had been under the umbrella of Macquarie Group since 2013.

Macquarie IM Korea’s assets under management shrank sharply due to a terminated asset management contract with Orange Life Insurance, formerly known as ING Life Insurance Korea. Orange Life Insurance was later merged into its sister company Shinhan Life Insurance.

The former Korean unit of Macquarie IM logged a 6.3 billion won operating loss in 2020, up eightfold on-year.

Currently, Macquarie Group operates one Korean subsidiary, Macquarie Korea Asset Management, which completed its merger with affiliate Macquarie Korea Opportunities Management last year.

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