Korea Investment Holdings Invests in Stake of "Canyon ABF Partners"

Entering the Global Asset-Backed Finance Market

Korea Investment Holdings announced on June 15 that it will participate as an anchor investor in the establishment of Canyon ABF Partners (CAP), a global asset-backed finance (ABF) specialist investment corporation.

CAP is a joint venture co-founded by leading global alternative investment manager Canyon Partners, Japan’s Dai-ichi Life, and Korea Investment Holdings. The company will be led by Jay Kim, a globally recognized expert in structured finance. Leveraging its capability to execute over USD 5 billion in loans annually, CAP plans to provide liquidity to specialized lenders and regional banks in the United States.

This investment is not a simple financial investment, but rather a strategic move to expand global operations. To enter the ABF market—which is characterized by high expertise, significant barriers to entry, and comparatively low market volatility—Korea Investment Holdings has chosen to collaborate with global partners first. The company expects to strengthen its expertise and deal sourcing capabilities in the global ABF market, as well as generate business synergies by discovering and distributing outstanding investment products.

ABF refers to structured products that use cash flows from a wide range of real-economy assets—including consumer finance, real estate, tangible assets, patents, and royalties—as underlying assets. According to global private equity firm KKR, the global ABF asset size grew from USD 3.1 trillion (approximately KRW 4,732 trillion) in 2006 to USD 6.1 trillion (approximately KRW 9,313 trillion) in 2024, nearly doubling. As local banks have continued to reduce loan supply due to the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2023 U.S. regional banking turmoil, specialized alternative investment institutions are expanding their roles as key liquidity providers for the real economy.

A Korea Investment Holdings representative stated, “ABF is an attractive market where major global institutional investors are accelerating its inclusion as a core asset, but it is still in the early stages of adoption in Korea. Our participation in this equity investment is part of a strategic exploration that goes beyond short-term profit generation—it is intended to directly experience advanced financial trends and further elevate our global alternative investment capabilities.”

The official added, “This investment represents a strategic partnership aimed at realizing Korea Investment Holdings’ vision of becoming Asia’s leading financial group. It is meaningful not only for the potential short-term returns, but also as a strategic step to secure long-term competitive advantage in new growth areas within the global financial market. Through CAP, we will demonstrate our strong interest and competitiveness in the alternative investment sector, and by expanding our expertise and business scope from private credit—where we already have strengths—into the ABF market, we will further enhance our global alternative investment capabilities.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.