Samsung and KB Chose Indirect Investment in the US Mainland... Why Did Mirae Asset Pour Out 22 Private Equity Funds?

Wall Street is strictly an 'away game' for South Korean capital. For Korean financial firms lacking local networks and intelligence, directly establishing and managing (as a GP) private equity funds in the US mainland is considered a challenge accompanied by massive costs and risks. According to a comprehensive analysis of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) private fund (Form D) and investment adviser (Form ADV) filings, the majority of Korean asset management companies, in line with this natural industry common sense, were minimizing the risks of direct management and thoroughly opting for 'selection and concentration'. That is, except for one place, Mirae Asset, which has been continuing its highly unusual expansion.

Rational Survival Strategy for the 'Away Game': Indirect Investment and Concentration of Core Competencies

The data demonstrates the highly rational and calculated survival methods of Korean financial firms. The New York subsidiary of Samsung Asset Management manages massive assets reaching a staggering 10.66 trillion won ($8.2 billion), but it does not touch local private equity fund management at all. Instead of high-risk private equity funds, they are concentrating their capabilities exclusively on Korean bond discretionary management and US ETF advisory services, where they possess distinct strengths.

This is the industry's universal approach to global capital. NH Investment & Securities and Korea Investment Partners, whose names appear hundreds of times in disclosure documents, also participate solely as investors (LPs) placing money into the funds of top-tier local asset managers like Blackstone. Rather than taking the risk of grabbing the steering wheel themselves, it is a strategy to pursue stable returns by utilizing the know-how of global asset managers. Even KB Asset Management and Korea Investment Management entirely withdrew their SEC registrations in 2018 and 2022, respectively, modifying their local expansion strategies. Hanwha Asset Management is also demonstrating extremely cautious steps, managing only a single venture fund worth approximately 153 billion won in San Francisco.

Is it a Runaway Breaking Common Sense, or an Unreasonable Expansion?

However, Mirae Asset's disclosure data deviates from all this common sense. When everyone else is avoiding risk or sticking to safe indirect investments, Mirae Asset established a staggering 22 corporate entities to issue private equity funds and raised a cumulative 1.425 trillion won in funds. Its total assets under management in the US amount to 7.54 trillion won ($5.83 billion).

In particular, the pace of their expansion became even steeper reaching the spring of 2026. Following their existing flagship fund 'Project Planet' (approximately 480 billion won), the new 'Gaia' series is explosively growing its size. The Gaia series, which reported its first fund in May 2024, simultaneously reported to the SEC a third fund worth about 144.5 billion won ($111.18 million) and a second fund worth about 29 billion won ($22.26 million) in the single month of March 2026. It is aggressive enough that just the three Gaia series account for 21% (approximately 299 billion won) of the total amount raised. This is the result of only five institutional investors betting an average of 28.9 billion won each.

SEC private fund filings only disclose external aspects such as the offering amount and the number of investors, and do not specify return rates or detailed investment targets. Out of the 21 funds submitted by Mirae Asset, 19 are classified simply as "pooled investment fund," so the performance of individual funds cannot be known from this disclosure alone. In fact, looking at the recent audit report of Mirae Asset's US subsidiary, overall performance such as assets and net income have significantly expanded, but this performance also includes revenue from ETFs (Global X) and other advisory operations, so the contribution solely from the 22 private equity funds is not separately distinguished.

Ultimately, the strategies of South Korean capital towards the US market have been clearly divided. While the majority of financial firms minimized risks through indirect investments or discretionary management, Mirae Asset achieved external growth by choosing a head-on approach of directly managing (as a GP) multiple funds. Whether the lineup of 22 private equity funds, into which 1.4 trillion won was injected, can establish itself as a core driving force leading the growth of the US subsidiary remains a task to be proven through future fund liquidations and actual return rate indicators.

This article was written based on SEC private fund filing (Form D) and investment adviser registration document (Form ADV) data. Assets under management are based on the registration documents of each company (Mirae Asset $5.83 billion, Hanwha $4.0 billion, Samsung Asset Management $8.2 billion). KRW conversion is applied at 1 dollar = 1,300 won.