Korea's NPS to join takeover bid for Australian toll road operator

South Korea's national pension fund is set to take part in an A$2.1 billion (US$2.2 billion) deal to acquire an Australian toll road operator, sources said Wednesday. The National Pension Service (NPS) plans to participate in a consortium led by Sydney-based infrastructure fund CP2 to take over ConnectEast Group, which operates the EastLink toll road in Melbourne, according to the sources. The NPS is expected to hold a 15 percent stake in the consortium, which includes other pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, such as Dutch pension asset manager APG, China Investment Corp. and New Zealand Superannuation Fund. If ConnectEast shareholders approve the deal at a board meeting slated for later this month, it will be the NPS's second alternative investment in Australian assets. Last year, the pension fund acquired a landmark office building in Sydney for around 757 billion won ($688 million). The NPS, the world's fourth-largest pension fund, has been beefing up alternative investments as part of its efforts to diversify its investment portfolio. Around 6 percent of the NPS's 340 trillion won assets are currently invested in property and infrastructure assets. NPS Chairman Jun Kwang-woo said in May the pension fund aims to increase the portion of its alternative investment to more than 10 percent of its total assets within five years.