[THE INVESTOR] Private equity funds in Korea set a record in 2017, with the number and size of commitment rising to record-highs, according to the Financial Supervisory Service on April 12.

“The PEF sector seems to be growing actively after related regulations were relaxed in 2015,” said the FSS.

Compared to 2009, the number of PEFs grew fourfold to stand at 444, and they committed a total of 62.6 trillion won (US$58.50 billion) last year after growing threefold.Also, a record 135 PEFs were created while 64 were dissolved.

The funds invested in 315 domestic and overseas companies worth 12.4 trillion won in 2017. From these investments, the PEFs retrieved 7.4 trillion won, which was bigger than the 8.1 trillion won in 2016.


By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)