Mirae Sells Greater Seoul Tower for $1.4B in Korea’s Biggest Ever Office Deal

Mirae Asset Management has sold a Greater Seoul office building to a consortium of Korea Investment & Securities and KakaoBank for a record-breaking KRW 2 trillion ($1.4 billion).

Pangyo Tech One Tower, located south of the capital in the Pangyo area renowned as South Korea’s Silicon Valley, changed hands for the highest-ever transaction price in the history of the country’s office market, according to Cushman & Wakefield, which advised on the sale.

The deal closed at a consideration equal to KRW 10.1 million ($7,095) per square metre, setting a new mark for Pangyo on a price per unit area basis, the consultancy said Tuesday in a release. At 198,000 square metres (2.1 million square feet) of gross floor area, the 2021-built tower ranks as the third-largest asset across South Korea’s four major office districts and is regarded by Cushman & Wakefield as Pangyo’s largest trophy asset.

“Pangyo Tech One Tower is a prime example of value maximisation through broad investor engagement,” said Ryan Choi, executive director of the capital markets group at C&W Korea. “Our sophisticated targeting strategy and deep market insights were key drivers behind the successful execution of this landmark transaction.”

GIC, KKR Looked In

Local media reported in July that the KIS-KakaoBank team had emerged as the preferred bidder for Pangyo Tech One Tower, whose key tenants include KakaoBank, tech giant Naver and Hyundai Motors.

Despite earlier concerns about the ticket size, the bidding round held on 1 July drew attention from investors including Singapore sovereign giant GIC and private equity major KKR, according to an account by Corebeat.

Seoul-based Mirae broke ground on the 15-storey Pangyo project in 2017 after raising a KRW 860 billion fund to acquire the site, Maeil Business Newspaper reported. Mirae initially partnered with Naver to invest in the asset, but the tech group sold its 45.08 percent stake in the holding fund to GIC in 2023, per the Korea Economic Daily.

With the disposal of Pangyo Tech One Tower, Mirae realised a profit of KRW 1.12 trillion, Maeil said.

Fever Pitch

Seoul’s red-hot office market has set off a scramble for the capital’s trophy assets, with KB Asset Management said to have offered $724 million to IGIS Asset Management and Korea’s National Pension Service for the Signature Tower in the central business district, according to a July report.

Mingtiandi reported last December that Seoul-based Mastern Investment Management had completed the sale of D-Tower Donuimun in the capital’s central Jongno district to NongHyup REITs for $653 million. The transaction of the four-year-old office building marked 2024’s biggest deal closing in the central business district and second largest overall in South Korea last year.

That same month, Mastern announced the sale of Center Point Gangnam, a newly built office tower near Seoul’s Gangnam Station, to local fashion giant F&F for $246 million.

Mastern has also selected Korea Investment & Securities as the preferred bidder for Doosan Tower after KIS offered $630 million, according to local news reports in February. The 34-storey Seoul tower is said to have also attracted bids from IGIS and Kiwoom Asset Management after Mastern had acquired the building from Doosan Group for KRW 800 billion in 2020.