South Korean public institutions have invested in more than 2,000 companies, with the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) leading the way with nearly 500.

According to Alio, a management information disclosure system for public institutions, the number of companies invested in by 144 public institutions, including their affiliated organizations with investment and equity participation, reached 2,112 at the end of last year, up 5.5 percent from the end of the previous year. This is the highest number recorded in the past five years since 2018.

The figure includes companies on the list of their subsidiary and invested companies but excludes those invested in by such invested firms.

The number of companies invested by Korean public corporations increased further last year, following increases from 1,491 at the end of 2018 to 1,656 at the end of 2019, 1,826 at the end of 2020 and 2,100 at the end of 2021. The number increased by 41.6 percent or 621 compared with the end of 2018.

At the end of last year, KEPCO had the highest number of invested companies with 496, accounting for 23.5 percent of the total number of companies invested by public firms.

KEPCO was followed by Korea Asset Management with 89 invested firms, Korea Development Bank at 85, Housing and Urban Guarantee Corp. at 83, Korea Ocean Business Corp. at 81, Industrial Bank of Korea at 53, Korea Land and Housing Corp. at 50, Korea Advancing Schools Foundation at 42, and Korea South-East Power at 41 and Korea Western Power at 41.

KEPCO had more than twice as many subsidiaries and invested firms at the end of last year as it did at the end of 2018, four years ago. KEPCO’s business report last year listed 496 invested companies with 31 trillion won ($23.4 billion) in investments. By investment purpose, 42 were for management participation, 34 were for general investment and 420 were for simple investment.

KEPCO is trying to improve its financial structure after posting an operating loss of 32.6 trillion won last year, and the plan includes adjusting the structure of its invested firms.

KEPCO plans to reduce labor costs, sell assets, and adjust the timing of investment as part of efforts to improve its financial structure.

By Pulse

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