Korea Investment Corp. (KIC), South Korea's sovereign wealth fund, said Thursday it plans to open a new office in India's financial capital of Mumbai later this year to secure a new investment foothold amid global supply chain reorganization.
KIC CEO Jin Seoung-ho made the announcement during a press conference meant to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the wealth fund's establishment.
Currently, KIC has offices in New York, San Francisco, London and Singapore.
The KIC said it will closely monitor developments in China as its economic growth has slowed and there are several risk factors in Chinese markets and discover alternative investment opportunities in India, a market global financial institutions are actively breaking into.
As of end-2022, KIC invested US$130.6 billion, or 77.2 percent of its assets, in traditional investment items, including stocks and bonds, and $38.7 billion, or 22.8 percent of assets, in alternative items, such as real estate, infrastructure and hedge funds.
KIC invested 65.49 percent of its traditional assets in North America, 19.33 percent in Europe and 11.78 percent in Asia.
In the first half of this year, KIC said it made an 8.25 percent profit in traditional investment thanks to the bullish stock market. The earnings rate of stock investment was 14.39 percent and that of bond investment was 1.87 percent.
"Stock prices jumped big as preference for risk assets increased as concerns eased over a hard landing and economic recession on the fine economic situation of major countries, including the U.S.," Jin said, noting that investors' woes over monetary tightening also went down on views that inflation has passed its peak.
For the second half outlook, Jin said KIC believes the global economy will make a soft landing and there is a low possibility of severe recession.
Source: Yonhap News Agency