LaSalle Buys Seoul Mega Sheds for $450M as Korean Deals Stay Hot

LaSalle Investment Management has acquired a pair of logistics facilities in Greater Seoul for a total of $450 million, as the US firm continues to chalk up deals in South Korea.

The two large, dry-only sheds are located next to each other in Seoul’s surrounding Gyeonggi province, the property investment arm of JLL said Monday in a release.

The buy was made on behalf of LaSalle’s joint venture with an unspecified Middle Eastern sovereign fund, as well as the LaSalle Asia Opportunity VI fund. The seller of the two assets was local construction firm Jisan Engineering, according to sources familiar with the transaction who spoke with Mingtiandi.

The transaction follows Chicago-based LaSalle’s acquisition of two logistics facilities in Icheon last year on behalf of the JV and LAO VI. LaSalle also sold a cold storage project earlier this year to Pacific Asset Management Co for $95 million.

“LaSalle Korea’s recent acquisitions represent unique opportunities to invest in newly built modern warehouses with full occupancy by institutional tenants, purchased at well below replacement costs,” said Steve Hyung Kim, LaSalle’s head of Korea.

Fully Occupied

The freshly acquired pair of sheds add 385,944 square metres (4.2 million square feet) of gross floor area to LaSalle’s Korean industrial portfolio.

The first asset, which is being renamed Logiport Anseong Center-I, spans 187,226 square metres and was completed in June 2023. The property is 100 percent occupied and has a weighted average lease expiry of 4.35 years.

The second asset, to be called Logiport Anseong Center-II, comprises 198,718 square metres and was completed last month. It has 100 percent occupancy and a WALE of 4.55 years.

The warehouses have four institutional tenants in the semiconductor, pharmaceutical, beauty and consumer goods segments, according to LaSalle. The firm plans to upgrade and implement new sustainability initiatives at the facilities, Kim said.

In 2019, LaSalle completed its acquisition of Logiport West Anseong after having already fully leased the 46,767 square metre facility, which was built by local construction firm Yojin E&C, according to local news reports.

Fund Finds Opportunities

LaSalle announced in 2022 that it had raised more than $2.2 billion in equity for LAO VI, handily exceeding the firm’s initial target of $1.5 billion. The fund’s backers include the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which made a $300 million commitment.

In July, LaSalle acquired an office site in Seoul’s Gangnam business district on behalf of LAO VI and an unnamed local investor at a bid price of $115 million, representing a 33 percent discount to the project’s appraised value of KRW 230.8 billion. Market sources identified the local investor as KT Estate, the property development arm of Korea Telecom.

Last year, LaSalle made a high-yield collateralised loan to bridge-finance a 10-storey office project in Seoul’s Seongsu district on behalf of LAO VI, with the loan having been repaid on its maturity date in December. That deal marked the fund’s first opportunistic debt investment in Asia Pacific.