South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund, the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), reported an annual investment return of 8.49% for 2024, marking a year-on-year decline from an 11.6% gain in 2023.
KIC said its assets under management (AUM) reached a record $206.5 billion at the end of December, with total investment gains since its 2005 inception hitting $93.9 billion. The fund’s annualised return since inception stands at 4.75%.
Despite the moderation in returns, KIC credited the strong gains in global equity markets — particularly in artificial intelligence (AI) and technology — for helping sustain its 2024 performance.
Traditional assets generated an annual return of 9.30%, narrowly exceeding the benchmark by 3 basis points. Equities surged 18.83% (+10 bps), while fixed-income investments slipped to -0.19% (+2 bps), according to a statement.
KIC also continued to expand its alternative investments, which have produced a seven-year (2018-2024) annualised return of 8.06%.
Within alternatives, private equity led with 12.20%, followed by real estate and infrastructure at 5.46%, and hedge funds at 5.80%. Since the fund began allocating to alternatives in 2009, these investments have delivered an annualised return of 7.68%, KIC said.
By the end of 2024, KIC’s portfolio mix stood at 78.1% in traditional assets and 21.9% in alternatives — a rise of $3.5 billion in its alternative holdings from the previous year.
“While high inflation and geopolitical news kept markets highly volatile, KIC achieved stable returns and remains resilient for the long term,” KIC chief executive Il Young Park said in a statement.
In September, KIC announced the appointment of Park as CEO and chairman of the board of directors in September last year.
KIC was established under the Korea Investment Corporation Act in 2005 with $1 billion in assets. It manages a portion of the country’s foreign reserves and public funds, aiming to enhance national wealth through global investments.
In 2023, KIC, posted a positive annual return of 11.6% — a turnaround from the negative returns of the previous year — driven by strong gains on its investments in traditional assets.
