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

Samsung Group is poised to acquire the Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. headquarters building 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 an 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 tower, dubbed The Asset, sources added.

Among the bidders were US private equity giant KKR & Co. Inc. and Korean investment firms 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 be buying back a property back that was previously its asset.

Samsung Group’s construction and trading unit Samsung C&T Corp. sold the 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 the 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 in 2018 as it was the first to be priced at more than 300 million won per pyeong (3.3 square meters).

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

Located in the Gangnam business district, The Asset is Tower B among the three towers dubbed “Samsung Town." Towers A and C are owned by Samsung Life Insurance Co. and Samsung Electronics Co., respectively.

Koramco renamed 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 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.