April 25, 2024

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Seoul-based Hanwha Asset Management said on Sept. 25 that its Singaporean unit had gained regulatory approval for a public fund management business.

The funds will focus on a portfolio ranging from equities, bonds to alternatives. The funds will have no restriction on the number of investors -- institutional and retail -- or assets under management.

The announcement comes a week after it earned a license called “Retail Licensed Fund Management Company” from the Monetary Authority of Singapore on Sept. 16. Hanwha Asset applied for the license in March.

“Singapore is a global financial hub and is spearheading investments in ASEAN countries,” Hanwha Asset Management Singapore CEO Lee Seung-woo said in a statement. “With the Retail LFMC, Hanwha Asset is seeking a leap forward with global public funds for investors in South Korea and abroad.”

The license will also allow the company to create global public funds tailored to Korean investors’ needs.

“Before Hanwha Asset obtained the license, Korean institutional and retail investors interested in offshore investments had no choice but to invest in funds run by foreign asset management firms,” a spokesperson of Hanwha Asset told The Investor.

Since being founded in October 2014, Hanwha Asset's Singaporean unit has managed its signature Hanwha Asean Legend funds for Korean investors and sought foreign assets for its portfolio.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)