Jeonnam-Gwangju Unified Special City promotes establishment of strategic industry investment agency

Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special City is planning to establish a local public investment agency that directly invests in strategic industries such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), and energy, and attracts private and policy finance to recover and reinvest the investment.

The integrated city's plan is to act as a 'public investor' and create an investment finance platform that returns the growth results of strategic industries to the region.

According to the task order for 'Research service for establishing a basic plan for establishing an investment institution' announced by the integrated city on the 3rd, the city spent a total of 99.95 million won to review the plan and feasibility of establishing an investment institution for 10 months.

As intensive investment is needed in high-tech industries such as semiconductors, AI, and energy, the city of Unified City explained that the background for promoting the service is the establishment of a specialized organization that will lead the investment as a public investor and return the results to the region.

The new institution will focus on investment finance functions, design an investment structure linking policy finance and private capital, and prepare investment deliberation, risk management, compliance monitoring/internal control, investment asset evaluation/recovery system, and finance-related registration/authorization measures.

The appropriate capital, public and private capital participation limits, and investment and financial support plans for five years after establishment are also calculated.

Mayor Min Hyeong-bae decided not to stick to the 'investment corporation' form that he had mentioned since he was a candidate.

Compare the competitiveness and legal suitability of each type, such as local public corporations and investment/contribution institutions, and also review 'unestablished alternatives' that utilize private fund management companies or techno parks (TPs).

A plan to unite investment and fund functions scattered across the former Gwangju City and Jeonnam Province was also included.

The integrated city investigates the funds and investment projects being operated directly and indirectly, integrates and coordinates overlapping functions, and designs investment association formation and operation methods.

On the premise of transferring investment and fund operations to a new organization, plans to reduce or reallocate the number of civil servants upon integration are also being considered.

In order to respond to the preliminary consultation with the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, we also decided to prepare data on six issues, including securing expertise, risk management, legal and institutional suitability, profits and losses compared to private investment companies, duplication of existing funds, and flat, slim organization.

The service is scheduled to be completed in August next year after prior consultation with the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and feasibility review by specialized organizations.

An official from the Investment Promotion Department of the integrated city explained, “We have not decided on a specific type of institution in advance, and we are in the stage of reviewing various establishment forms in order to pass the Ministry of Public Administration and Security feasibility review.”