Aberdeen AM eyes Korea expansion

UK fund house Aberdeen Asset Management announced a new hire in South Korea yesterday as part of a drive to expand activities under its representative licence.

The firm revealed it had hired Kim Dong-ki in a new role as senior manager, reporting to its chief country representative Alex Kim.

In a note, Aberdeen AM said that at present its Korea office was acting as a liaison and contact point for domestic institutions. It added it was now seeking to expand its activities under its representative licence.

“He [DK Kim] will be trying to identify business opportunities in the institutional marketplace,” said a company spokeswoman. She noted that the firm was expanding its market coverage, although it had no plan to apply for a new licence.

Prior to joining Aberdeen, DK Kim served as an associate director at Russell Investments Korea, where he was responsible for business development.

He also worked at Hanwha Life Insurance from 2004 to 2010, managing fund investments across a variety of asset classes including property, infrastructure, buyouts, mezzanines and hedge funds.

In late July, Aberdeen AM confirmed it had been suffering from large net Asian outflows amid a broad souring investor sentiment towards emerging markets, as reported.

It noted it had seen nearly £10 billion in net outflows in the second quarter this year, with global AUM falling to £307 billion ($474 billion). AsianInvestor has recently questioned whether such broad-based selling was merited, as reported.

The Aberdeen spokeswoman told AsianInvestor the firm's AUM globally currently stood at $483 billion. She declined to break out its AUM among Asia-based clients.