Samsung likely to buy office The Asset for more than $724 mn

Samsung Group is highly likely to acquire the building of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. headquarters office in Seoul for more than 1 trillion won ($724.4 million) from Koramco REITs Management and Trust Co., banking sources said on Tuesday.

Koramco has sent a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to Samsung Group’s real estate investment arm Samsung SRA Asset Management Co. to select the firm as the preferred bidder for the landmark dubbed The Asset, sources added.

Among the bidders were US private equity giant KKR & Co. Inc. and Korean investment firms such as IGIS Asset Management Co., Kyobo AIM Asset Management Co. and Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and Savills plc are the lead managers for the deal.

Samsung SRA is set to finance the deal with strategic investors including Samsung Fire, sources added.

If the deal is clinched, Samsung Group will purchase the property back which was formerly its asset.

Samsung Group’s construction and trading arm Samsung C&T Corp. sold the office building to Koramco for 748.4 billion won in September 2018.

Kyobo Life Insurance Co. and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co. joined as senior secured debt investors for 450 billion won, and National Housing and Urban Fund and NongHyup Financial Group participated in an equity investment of 320 billion won at the time.

The deal garnered attention from the market in 2018 as it was the first to be priced at more than 300 million won per pyeong, or 3.3 square meters.

The Asset has a floor area of 81,119 square meters with 32 floors above ground and seven underground. 

Located in the Gangnam Business District, The Asset is Tower B among the three towers called “Samsung Town”. Tower A and C are respectively owned by Samsung Life Insurance Co. and Samsung Electronics Co.

Koramco changed the name of the tower from Samsung C&T Seocho to The Asset in 2021 to attract tenants other than Samsung Group affiliates. The building has been leased out to Samsung Fire, Hyundai Card Co. and Hyundai Capital Service Inc. 

Write to Seok-Cheol Choi at dolsoi@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.