South Korean financial institutions KB Securities and JB Asset Management said Wednesday that an Australian borrower of their private equity real estate fund breached contracts by not carrying out investments as promised.

According to them, Australian investor LBA Capital used the money from JB Australia NDIS Fund for some real estate transactions different from the original agreement. The fund was initially intended for investments in businesses related to the Australian government’s housing policy for the disabled. 

The fund was sold by KB and managed by JB Asset Management. 

KB Securities sold the fund to institutional investors and individual investors from March to June. Institutional and individual investors each invested 236 billion won ($195.5 million) and 90.4 billion won in the fund, respectively.

LBA Capital allegedly skewed its investment after the price of the apartment that it initially planned to buy spiked unexpectedly.

The two Korean firms said they have retrieved 201.5 billion won in cash, while the County Court of Victoria froze the assets, including cash and real estate worth 88.2 billion won.

KB Securities said it plans to file a damages claim against LBA Capital and its three executives and expects to retrieve about 89 percent of the investment.

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)