Ministry Earns Solid Return on Its IT Investment

The Ministry of Information and Communication said Friday that it had more than recouped its joint investment in an information technology sector fund.

The ministry set up an investment pool in 1998 with LG Venture Investment Inc. to support information technology firms. The ministry put in 4.5 billion won ($3.3 million) and LG 5.5 billion won. LG has been managing the fund.

The fund, the government's first such investment in an IT sector support pool, put the 10 billion won into 19 start-up companies, and has already recouped more than 13 billion won from just six of the firms.

The ministry said it has received 5.4 billion won of that total, and that this shows that there is still profit potential for investments in IT start-ups.

The ministry said it would put the money it has got from the investment and any future dividends it receives from the fund into other IT capital investment projects.

by Choi Ji-young