KIC set to make $1 bln alternative investment in H2

SEOUL, June 30 is set to spend $1 billion of its overseas alternative investment budget in the second half in private equity secondary markets, hedge funds and commodities, an official said on Tuesday.

The sovereign wealth fund will make a fresh round of alternative asset purchases this year with $3 billion it is set to receive from the finance ministry.

"We are planning to carry out the investment of $1 billion within this year," Lee Dong-ik, who leads KIC's alternative investment team, told Reuters on the sidelines of an investor forum.

That would mark the first time the fund will buy foreign alternative assets since it bought $2 billion of shares in Merrill Lynch early last year.

Lee said the fund would retain its 0.96 percent stake in Bank of America-Merrill Lynch <BAC.N> as a strategic investor. (Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee and Marie-France Han; Editing by Chris Lewis)