National Growth Fund to Directly Invest 500 Billion Won in Ligochem Bioscience and Support 500 Billion Won Capital Increase for LIG D&A

Supporting ADC New Drug Development and Expanding Missile Production Capacity
Cumulative Support Grows to 14.6 Trillion Won

The National Growth Fund has decided to invest 500 billion won each in Ligochem Bioscience, a leading Korean biotech company, and LIG Defense & Aerospace (LIG D&A), a defense industry company. The purpose is to secure future growth engines by providing large-scale funding to national strategic industries such as biotechnology and defense.

According to the Financial Services Commission on June 26, the fund management committee of the National Growth Fund, held the previous day, approved a direct equity investment in Ligochem Bioscience and an investment in a project fund for LIG D&A.

The investment in Ligochem Bioscience aims to support research and development (R&D) spanning from new drug development and clinical trials to final commercialization, based on the company's antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) platform technology. ADCs are a technology that selectively treat specific cancer cells by combining potent anticancer drugs with antibodies that target those cells. Of the total required capital of 500 billion won, the National Growth Fund will provide 250 billion won through the Advanced Strategic Industry Fund, while the remaining 250 billion won will be borne by the largest shareholder and domestic institutional investors.

An official from the Financial Services Commission said, "This investment is meaningful because it supports a biotech company with global technological competitiveness to achieve commercialization of its R&D outcomes," and added, "By supplying large-scale patient capital together with public funds and private major shareholders, the National Growth Fund will strengthen the domestic biotech R&D value chain for promising companies, support the global expansion of K-Bio, and contribute to expanding new growth engines for the Korean economy."

The National Growth Fund will also invest in LIG D&A to expand missile defense system production capabilities. The company is pushing to expand mass production facilities for the mid-range surface-to-air missile 'Cheongung-II' and the long-range surface-to-air missile 'L-SAM', and is conducting a paid-in capital increase of 500 billion won for this purpose.

Through the Advanced Strategic Industry Fund, the National Growth Fund plans to acquire more than 100 billion won worth of newly issued preferred shares, within a limit of 150 billion won, while the remaining approximately 400 billion won will be acquired by private financial institutions.

The Financial Services Commission forecast that this investment would help not only expand missile defense system production capacity, but also create local jobs and enhance global export competitiveness. The commission explained that this is meaningful in that strategic defense industry investment can establish a virtuous cycle between security and the economy.

With this investment approval, the National Growth Fund's cumulative financial support now stands at 21 cases, totaling 14.6 trillion won. Of this, the proportion of investment in regional areas recorded 46.4%.

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