YEOUIDO, SEOUL-Kochem Co. Ltd., a private company, has closed on its purchase of the HI Investment & Securities Building, a 14-story office tower in central Yeouido, Seoul. The building was purchased from Union Investment Real Estate GmbH, a Hamburg, Germany-based real estate investment fund manager, for $46 million.
Savills Korea managed the disposition process for the seller. The sales price represented a 36% increase on Union Investment’s acquisition price in late 2006.
“With so few of the pending office transactions in Seoul managing to complete so far in 2010, we are particularly pleased to have closed this deal within less than two months of kicking-off initial marketing” says Mark Vink, senior manager of Savills Korea.
Gyehwan An, senior vice president of Savills Korea, says that in addition to achieving an “excellent price,” the speed at which this transaction was completed “is a real testament to the focused effort and expertise of the Savills investment advisory team. I look forward to announcing repeat performances as the year progresses.”
According to a release from the seller, Union Investment Real Estate GmbH decided to sell to “leverage cycle opportunities.” The building currently is 30% above the most recent expert valuation as far as price goes, according to the release. “
According to Karl-Joseph Hermanns-Engel, member of the management board of Union Investment Real Estate GmbH, “Seoul is one of Asia’s most stable investment markets and is currently extremely popular with both domestic and international investors.” He adds that “We moved quickly to take advantage of strong investment demand for core properties and lock in excellent gains for the Fund.”
Built in 1986, the HI Building comprises some approximately 143,200 square feet of rental space and is located in the office submarket of Yeouido. Union Investment is still represented in the South Korean capital with the Seoul Mobile Telecom Building, which is held by its institutional Immo-Invest: Europa real estate fund.
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