Korea Investment & Securities joins hands with Carlyle

South Korean brokerage house Korea Investment & Securities has partnered with global private equity firm Carlyle Group, seeking to globalize its investment portfolio.

The Korean firm said Monday it signed a strategic partnership with Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm with $385 billion of assets under management as of June.

Korea Investment & Securities CEO Jung Il-moon and Harvey Schwartz, CEO of Carlyle Group, attended a signing ceremony held Friday in Seoul.

Through the partnership, the local brokerage firm will invest some $300 million in the funds operated by Carlyle Group and secure opportunities to obtain overseas credit products worth $4 billion annually.

"By establishing a pipeline for retail product development and expanding channels for overseas investment bank transactions through Carlyle Group’s network, we will be able to strengthen our competitiveness and capabilities overseas,” CEO Jung said.

“We will seek more opportunities in overseas markets to increase the assets and profits of customers through diverse products," he said.

Cooperating with Carlyle Group, a leading player in the collateralized loan obligation (CLO) market, Korea Investment & Securities will focus more on introducing credit products. A CLO is a debt instrument vehicle that raises profit through managing a pool of leveraged loans.

Last month, the local brokerage house completed the sell-down of a CLO product worth 50 billion won ($36 million), sourced from Carlyle Group.

Along with these efforts, Korea Investment & Securities plans to upgrade its global product portfolio to offer diverse investment opportunities for retail investors.

It aims to establish a system that offers a stable inflow of investment products worth 5 trillion won annually while increasing the share of global products for retail investors up to 30 percent by 2030.