Ex-NPS exec joins Korea’s largest securities firm as PE head

Sang-Hyun Yoo has joined Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities as a senior managing director and head of private equity. The move follows a short stint as an advisor at a Korean law firm, after departing the $564 billion National Pension Service last February.

In the new role, Yoo will lead the private equity team of the Korean wealth management firm to seek direct investments in international private equity assets, instead of fund investments, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

Mirae Asset Daewoo had not responded to queries at the time of publication.

The firm was the result of a merger between Daewoo Securities and Mirae Asset Securities in December 2016, forming the largest securities company in the country. National Pension Service of Korea was the second-largest shareholder of the two companies and retained a circa 10 percent stake in the merged entity.

Prior to joining Mirae Asset Daewoo, Yoo worked for Korean law firm Kim & Chang as an expert advisor to investment management and private equity practices since June 2017. He left NPS, where his most recent role was head of global alternatives, in February 2017, amid a series of key personnel departures.

He joined the state fund in 2004 and was promoted from the domestic alternatives division to the global role in July 2016, which oversaw the fund’s international investment strategy across real estate, private equity, private debt, infrastructure and hedge funds.

– with additional reporting by Carmela Mendoza