The Military Mutual Aid Association said Friday it has selected eight South Korean external partners dedicated to investment in private equities and venture capital to back a combined 130 billion won ($107.1 million) this year.

The Korean institutional investor will invest a total of 100 billion won to blind pool funds managed by private equity houses KStone Partners, Aju IB Investment, SkyLake Investment, KTB Private Equtiy and Dominus Investment.

In the meantime, a combined 30 billion won will go to venture capital vehicles by Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Premier Partners and SV Investment.

Each vehicle will be entitled to manage between 10-20 billion won from the Korean institutional investor.

“(MMAA) is investing in blind pool funds in a risk-averse approach so that assets we collected from members can be managed safely through the vehicles’ portfolio diversification,” MMAA Chief Investment Officer Kim Jae-dong said in a statement.

In 2019, MMAA worked with six external partners to invest a combined 120 billion won.

MMAA was managing 10.8 trillion won in assets, with alternative assets accounting for 46.6 percent, as of end-2018. The investor has scaled up its exposure to alternative assets, to two-thirds, within a couple of years.

Since its foundation in 1984, MMAA has provided mutual aid, financial relief and insurance to some 170,000 military personnel in Korea.

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