[Provided by Korea Investment Management]
[Provided by Korea Investment Management]

Korea Investment Management listed the ACE K-Bio Kosdaq Active ETF on Tuesday.

The new ETF is the firm's first Kosdaq investment product in six years. Since the 2020s, the only Kosdaq-focused ETF Korea Investment Management had offered was the ACE Kosdaq150 (formerly KINDEX Kosdaq150) ETF.

The fund targets domestic biotech companies showing qualitative growth. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, South Korea's biopharmaceutical exports rose 15.3 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, reaching a record $4.5 billion — the highest ever for a half-year period. Exports have grown at an average annual rate of more than 20 percent over the past three years.

The ETF's portfolio will hold around 20 stocks, selected from Kosdaq-listed companies based on technology export potential, pipelines aligned with global trends and clinical data competitiveness. The benchmark index is the KRX K-AI Biotech Kosdaq index.

The fund will be managed by Park Song-i, a senior investment strategist and biotech specialist who holds a master's degree in pharmacy from Korea University, where she also completed her undergraduate studies. Park plans to select companies with solid fundamentals through both qualitative and quantitative analysis, determining each stock's weighting by factoring in technology transfer history, event visibility and liquidity.

"The global pharmaceutical and biotech market is being re-evaluated around the value of drug pipelines and commercial results, and K-bio in particular has entered its own long-term high-growth trajectory, driven by explosive growth in global healthcare demand," Park said. "This is the optimal time to move beyond large-cap-heavy portfolios and invest intensively in core Kosdaq biotech companies that are proving themselves through technology exports and clinical successes."

"Given the high volatility of individual companies in the biotech sector, professional active management is essential rather than simply tracking an index," she added. "By using the ACE K-Bio Kosdaq Active ETF, investors will be able to selectively invest in competitive, promising stocks based on our research."

Korea Investment Management has been accelerating its new product launches. The firm also recently introduced the Korea Investment Level-Up Korea Fund (a private fund of funds), which invests in companies expected to lead the South Korean stock market. The fund targets key industries and policy-beneficiary stocks poised to drive a medium- to long-term rerating of the Korean equity market.


th5@heraldcorp.com