United Asset Management Company, South Korea's biggest bad loan investment firm, said Thursday it will invest 500 billion won ($442.6 million) into a private-public fund that will help restructure small and medium-sized enterprises.

The 8-trillion-won fund will be financed over the next five years from stat banks and other investors with the aim of restructuring SMEs, the nation's financial regulator said earlier this month. 

State-run financial institutions, including the National Pension Service, will pour 4 trillion won into the fund and the remaining 4 trillion won will be raised by the private sector, officials said.

Lee Seong-kyu, chief executive of UAMCO, told reporters that the company plans to expand its corporate restructuring-related assets to 1 trillion won this year and to 2 trillion won next year.

If UAMCO invests 1.5 trillion won into restructuring-related assets by the end of next year, it would help troubled firms keep a total of 20,000 employees, Lee said.

UAMCO, co-owned by six major banks including Shinhan Bank and Kookmin Bank, is a major player in the local non-performing loan market by clearing dud loans through write-downs and selling them to financial firms at a giveaway value. (Yonhap)