The Public Officials Benefit Association said Wednesday it plans to select two global asset management houses as external partners to manage its overseas fixed income portfolios.

Under the plan, the state-run institutional investor, which manages funds to support public officials’ welfare, will commit a total of $350 million to the appointed two investment houses.

To qualify for consideration, POBA said each prospective manager must oversee over $5 billion worth of debt instruments, exceed $1 billion in bond funds under Global Aggregate mandates, have at least five years of experience in managing such funds and have past experience in managing separately managed accounts for institutional clients.

The selected partners is scheduled to be announced by mid-September, following evaluations and due diligence.

The deadline for application is Aug. 28.

The universe will be composed of two domestic managers and two overseas partners. POBA last week chose two domestic managers Mirae Asset Global Investments and Hanwha Asset Management for administrative services.

POBA’s assets under management came to 14.3 trillion won ($12.1 billion) as of end-2019, with some 10 percent of the total AUM held in bonds. Its exposure to fixed income assets will remain nearly unchanged by end-2020.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)