[Edaily Marketin YunJi Kim Reporter] As competition among global private equity (PEF) firms to secure funds in Asia intensifies, the presence of Korean institutional investors (LPs) is also growing. With the Korean market—home to large institutional investors such as the National Pension Service, mutual aid associations, and insurance companies—emerging as a key hub for Asian fundraising, the value of professionals with established domestic LP networks is also on the rise. Recently, it has become increasingly common to see professionals who have built relationships with LPs in Korea taking on the responsibility of fundraising across the entire Asian region.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 2nd, HIG Capital recently recruited Choi Young-hee, former Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, as Head of Capital Formation Group Asia. Ms. Choi is a veteran who has been responsible for fundraising and investor relations in the global private equity market for approximately 15 years. Until just before joining HIG, she served as Senior Managing Director and Head of Korea ICS at Blackstone. During her tenure at Blackstone, she is credited with building and expanding relationships with major domestic LPs and playing a key role in growing the firm’s private wealth fundraising business in Korea.

HIG is a global alternative investment manager with $75 billion in assets under management, focusing on buyouts of mid-market companies while also investing in credit, real estate, and infrastructure. It also manages various credit strategies, including senior, unitranche, and subordinated loans.

A notable aspect of this appointment is that Mr. Choi’s role has expanded beyond Korea to encompass all of Asia. Drawing on the network and fundraising experience he has built in the domestic institutional investor and high-net-worth individual markets, Mr. Choi will oversee HIG’s fundraising efforts across Asia.

In fact, this is not the first time that a person who has been responsible for Korean institutional investors has been promoted to head of fundraising for all of Asia. Adams Street Partners promoted Partner Cho Sung-woo, who had served as its Korea representative, to Head of Asian Investor Relations in February of this year. Having led efforts to build relationships with Korean LPs since 2017, he has raised approximately $3.2 billion from 55 domestic institutional investors. In addition, Digital Bridge, a fund manager specializing in digital infrastructure, recruited An Tae, former head of Partners Group in Korea, as its Head of Capital Formation for Asia in 2022.

The rise of professionals with long-standing relationships with Korean LPs as strategic assets stems from intensifying competition in fundraising within the global private equity market. As delays in exits across the private equity market have slowed capital returns to existing LPs, making conditions for raising new funds increasingly challenging, global GPs are focusing their efforts on expanding their fundraising base in Asia—including South Korea, Japan, and the Middle East. In this process, the depth of relationships with local institutional investors has emerged as a key factor determining competitiveness in fundraising.

Since investment criteria and decision-making structures vary widely from one institution to another, the role of personnel who have spent a long time working with local LPs—and thus understand their investment preferences and internal decision-making processes—is becoming increasingly important. Given the nature of the private equity market, where established relationships often lead to commitments to subsequent funds or co-investments, such networks are difficult to replace in the short term. This is the backdrop behind the growing trend of promoting professionals with experience in the Korean market to lead fundraising efforts across all of Asia.

The capital markets appear to be recognizing that fundraising experience gained in the Korean market is now considered a qualification sufficient to oversee the entire Asian region. This is explained by the fact that, as domestic institutional investors have long allocated funds to various alternative investment strategies—such as global private equity, credit, and infrastructure—the professionals who have dealt with them have also accumulated experience in both global products and institutional sales.

An official in the domestic capital market stated, “In a market like Korea, where large institutional investors are concentrated, proven fundraising experience is viewed as a qualification that allows one to take charge of fundraising strategies for all of Asia, beyond just domestic operations.” The official added, “As the influence of Korean LPs grows, won’t we naturally see more cases where professionals who have built long-term relationships with them move into key roles within Asian fundraising organizations?”