Korea’s big investors line up ... Korea Post also bets on CVC’s 9 trillion won infrastructure fund [fn Market Watch]

[Financial News] Korea Post will invest in CVC’s overseas infrastructure fund, which is being raised at a size of €6 billion (about 9.08 trillion won). The move follows decisions this year by major Korean mutual aid associations and life insurers to commit capital to the same fund. Domestic institutional money appears to be flowing to CVC one after another.
According to investment banking (IB) industry sources on the 18th, Post Office Savings recently selected CVC and Goldman Sachs as its two preferred bidders to manage an overseas infrastructure equity strategy (mid-cap) blind fund. Total commitments will be capped at $100 million. Based on this, Post Office Savings is expected to invest €50 million (about 75.4 billion won) in CVC. It plans to finalize the manager in December after conducting local due diligence and holding an investment committee review.
The fund proposed by CVC is CVC DIF Fund VIII (DIF Infrastructure VIII). It has already raised €4 billion (about 6.05 trillion won). The fund began fundraising in 2025 and uses a core-plus strategy focused on Europe’s energy transition and renewable energy infrastructure. Last year, it also made a major investment through the fund in UK renewable energy developer Low Carbon.
CVC DIF is an infrastructure manager founded in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2005 and was acquired by global private equity firm CVC in 2023. It manages about €23 billion in assets across energy transition, transport, utilities and digital infrastructure. More than 260 people work across its 12 offices, and it has made over 200 infrastructure investments to date. The CVC Group’s total assets under management amount to about €212 billion.
IB industry sources believe Korea Post gave CVC high marks for its exit (realization) capabilities. CVC has a dedicated divestment team, helping it avoid missing the right time to exit infrastructure assets. A steady stream of asset sales and distributions makes cash management easier for investors.
An IB industry source said, “Because infrastructure funds have long maturities, interim realization performance is central to evaluating a manager,” and noted, “CVC DIF’s strength in mid-sized assets made it a good fit for Korea Post’s mid-cap strategy.”
The investments under this commitment program will target mid-sized infrastructure assets in developed markets such as North America, Europe and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The strategy is limited to core-plus equity investments. The target is to keep exposure to any one sector at 50% or less and to any one company (asset) at 20% or less. Post Office Savings’ commitment to each fund is capped at 10% of the fund’s total size.
The proposed fund size was set at €2 billion to €7 billion (or dollars), based on the final amount raised. The fund term is capped at 15 years from final closing, including extensions, and the investment period at six years. The target net internal rate of return (Net IRR) is at least 9%, and the cash-on-cash yield (CoC) at least 4%. Greenfield investments are capped at 25% of committed capital.
Both the commitment size and the scope of the strategy were reduced from last year. Korea Post allocated up to $150 million to the same commitment program last year and allowed both core-plus and value-add strategies. This year, it lowered the cap by $50 million and sought managers for core-plus strategies only. Korea Post issued the notice last August and selected the preferred bidders after quantitative (60%) and qualitative (40%) evaluations.

[email protected] Kang Gu-gwi Reporter