Korea Post President Kang Seong-ju, right, claps after announcing the start of the sale of the Korea Post Fund on a July 3 ceremony with the help of Actor Hwang Jeong-min, left. (Photo:Korea Post)

South Korea’s state postal service is planning to buy riskier debt in North America and Europe as well as seeking foreign infrastructure assets and properties as it looks abroad for better returns.

Korea Post plans to increase investments in mezzanine and distressed debt by selecting high-performing asset managers, President Kang Seong-ju said. The $112 billion fund is also adding infrastructure and real-estate assets abroad and putting more money in hedge funds while reducing investment in stocks, according to Kang.

Korea Post has put $760 million in mezzanine and distressed debt.

The fund has also invested about $600 million in U.S. collateralized loan obligations though it doesn’t put money in equity tranches due to the higher risk. CLOs pool high-yield, high-risk loans and slice them into securities of varying risk and return.

Kang said he also met with Macquarie Group recently in Australia to boost infrastructure investments. For overseas real estate, the fund is looking to diversify its assets into logistics facilities in the U.S. and Europe. While Korea Post is reducing equities, the fund still favors some stocks in developed markets including the U.S. and dividend stocks while shunning emerging-market shares, Kang said. The fund also plans to boost investment in hedge funds by 300 billion won to 1.6 trillion won by end-2019, he said.

“Some people say it’s time to buy some beaten-down stocks in emerging markets, such as Vietnam equities, but we are still cautious about emerging markets due to lingering uncertainties,” he said.

The Korea Postal code system changed from a 6-digit postal code system to a 5-digit postal code system on August 1, 2015.
While FedEx internally converted its system to the 5-digit postal code, customers were asked to continue use of the old 6-digit system for shipments to and from Korea. FedEx would then convert the 6-digit postal codes to the 5-digit postal codes to facilitate smooth customs clearance.

The FedEx internal system is now calibrated for the 5-digit postal code, and starting April 4, 2016, the FedEx system will only accept 5-digit postal codes on shipping documents for all shipments to and from Korea and in all FedEx shipping tools, including ‘Get Rates & Transit Times’ and ‘Schedule and Manage Pickups’ on fedex.com. On and after April 4, 2016, the old 6-digit postal code will not be accepted by the FedEx system.

In order to facilitate a smooth transition to the 5-digit postal code, it is advised that users of FedEx automation tools, including ‘FedEx Ship Manager software’ and ‘FedEx Ship Manager at fedex.com’, update the postal codes in their address book from the 6-digit to the 5-digit postal code starting April 4, 2016.

Korea Post is South Korea’s state-run postal service. Its savings division, known as Korea Post Savings, oversees $90 billion in global investments.

Though it has made only sporadic moves in the U.S. in recent years — it purchased a Chicago office tower in 2013 and a pair of Atlanta office towers in November – it recently announced plans to commit $400 million to real estate acquisitions in the U.S. and Canada.