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South Korea’s National Pension Service, in partnership with global real assets manager Townsend Group, is set to take a minority stake in Andrew Lockhart’s Metrics Credit Partners, Street Talk can reveal.

The pension fund, the third-largest in the world with over $US800 billion ($1.26 trillion) in assets, is the largest investor in South Korea. Its 4.17 per cent stake is expected to have valued the private credit group at about $1.2 billion.

As part of the deal, NPS and Townsend would also make a large investment into new credit mandates with Metrics, sources said.

NPS’ backing would help turbocharge Metrics’ growth initiatives and fund potential acquisitions, they added. NPS and Townsend were advised by Jarden’s Sydney-based real estate team.

Of note, ASX-listed Pinnacle owns a 35 per cent stake in Metrics, taken in 2018. NPS’ entry onto Metrics’ register is the first time, since Pinnacle took an interest, that an outside institutional investor has been able to gain access to the private credit sector’s gorilla.

Metrics is sitting on about $23 billion of funds under management.

Lockhart was previously a director within National Australia Bank’s corporate lending business.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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