Hyundai Marine heir spotlighted for large fundraising

HG Initiative CEO Chung Kyung-sun

By Park Jae-hyuk

HG Initiative (HGI) CEO Chung Kyung-sun, son of Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Chairman Chung Mong-yoon and grandson of Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung, has been the talk of the town, since he is raising a combined 450 billion won ($369 million) for “impact investing.”

Market observers are keeping a close watch on the 34-year-old entrepreneur's latest attempts, wondering if he will continue his investments in enterprises that generate social and environmental effects.

According to industry sources, Wednesday, Chung recently began to raise a 200 billion won blind-pool fund through a private equity firm (PEF) named Sylvan Capital Management that he established in Singapore in 2018.

This came after he raised a 250 billion won fund in May along with IGIS Asset Management and his older sister Chung Jung-yi, who serves as the creative director at MGRV.

MGRV, an HGI subsidiary spun off from HGI in 2018, said the so-called “co-living” fund will be used to provide 200 to 300 single-person households with comfortable co-living spaces in Seoul.

“We have been able to introduce the new type of housing ― co-living ― to Korea through our recent fundraising,” MGRV CEO Cho Kang-tae said at that time.

Market insiders expect the additional 200 billion won that has been raised in Singapore will be used for investments in startups engaging in healthcare, education and technology businesses.

According to sources, Sylvan Capital had initially planned to finish its fundraising by the end of last year, but its plan hit a snag, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and delayed approval by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

As the PEF has been able to attract investments, it hired former Dunamu Investment CEO Oh Jae-min as the chief operating officer.

“We are investing in companies and assets that can create value and grow by providing commercial solutions to key challenges facing the planet while building a more sustainable world,” the company wrote on its official website.

“Our investment target is robust and growing companies in healthcare, education, renewable energy, agri-tech, smart city solutions, infrastructure and industrial technologies based in the Asia-Pacific, Israel and the United States.”

Against this backdrop, Hyundai Marine has denied speculation that its chairman's son will join the company soon to prepare for a management succession.

According to a regulatory filing by the insurer, however, Chung increased his stake in Hyundai Marine to 0.4 percent in March from 0.31 percent, when the stock price fell amid the spread of the coronavirus.

In addition, lawyer Kim Hyun-kang, Chung's brother-in-law, was appointed in February as an executive of Hyundai Investments, a Hyundai Marine subsidiary.

This has led market observers believe that Chung will join his father's company in the near future.