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Towers Watson partners with Korea’s Government Employees Pension Service as alternative assets advisor

Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Opalesque Industry Update - Towers Watson, the global professional services company, and Korea’s Government Employees Pension Service (GEPS), have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in which Towers Watson will assist GEPS in reviewing new investment opportunities and potential investment managers. With investable assets of approximately KRW 5 trillion (USD 4.75 billion), GEPS is a Korean public pension fund that provides retirement benefits to more than one million government employees. While GEPS has yet to invest in overseas alternative assets on a meaningful scale, this year it has expanded its allocation to include overseas real estate, private equity and hedge funds.

A formal ceremony to mark the signing of the MOU took place on 6 December 2013 at GEPS’ headquarters in Gangnam in Seoul at which GEPS’ CEO, Yang-ho Ahn presided. Jayne Bok, Head of Sovereign Advisory for Asia, and Andrew Shin, Director of Investment Consulting in Korea signed on behalf of Towers Watson.

The main objective of the partnership is for Towers Watson to leverage its global experience to help expand and diversify GEPS’ portfolio into overseas alternative assets. In addition, Towers Watson will share its investment knowledge and capabilities; provide research and analysis of new strategic investment opportunities, support GEPS’ internal teams in accessing these opportunities by assessing potential investment managers; and assist in the due diligence process.

Jayne Bok, Head of Sovereign Advisory for Asia at Towers Watson, said: “We are delighted to be selected as GEPS’ partner and are excited about the prospect of helping them to achieve their investment goals, as well as extending their global reach. Korean sovereigns are keen to better understand their global peers, but the reality is that in doing so these organizations face genuine time and resource constraints. However, we are very experienced globally in complementing internal investment teams and are used to having a proactive role, which is particularly advantageous in the fast-moving world of investing in alternative assets.”

Press release

bc

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