Baring Asset Management, the London-based investment firm, has bought a South Korean asset manager in which the World Bank took a stake 14 years ago.

Baring, which manages £30bn, said that it was to buy SEI Asset Korea, which would expand its presence in South Korea from a small representative sales office to a fully-fledged business with local asset-management expertise. The firm will be rebranded with the Baring name, a spokeswoman confirmed.