Gaw Capital Partners Buys 75 Percent of Korean Commercial Project

Real estate private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners announced today that it has invested in the office, officetel and retail portions of a twin tower building in Seoul.

Located within Seoul’s Yongsan District, the investment in the Dongja 8 project is the second non-Greater China transaction for the Hong Kong firm’s US$1.025 Billion Fund Gateway Fund IV, and the first deal in South Korea. The value of the investment has still not been made public by Gaw, which had earlier acquired the Hyatt Regency Osaka through the same fund.

Goodwin Gaw, Managing Principal and co-founder of Gaw Capital Partners said of the acquisition: “We are excited about our first acquisition in Korea, which is a market we have been eyeing for years. This is a unique opportunity to acquire a property in such a bustling and convenient area of Seoul and one with such high growth potential.”

In a statement, Gaw said that it had acquired the office, officetel and retail portions of Dongja 8 in Seoul’s Yongsan district within the south end of the city’s central business area. Under the terms of the agreement, Gaw would be acquiring 75 percent of the gross floor area of the 91,461 square metre project.

A Greater China Fund Investing Korea and Japan

Although Gaw describes its Gateway Fund IV as focusing on “gateway primary cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau and Taipei,” the fund has now made two investments outside of the greater China region in the last five months. According to earlier statements from Gaw, the fund is allowed to invest 20 percent of its equity of 1.03 billion dollars in Asian countries outside Greater China.

Last month Gaw acquired Pacific Century Place in Beijing from Richard Li’s Pacific Century Premium Developments Ltd (PCPD) for US$928 million through a shell company belonging to Gateway Real Estate Fund IV. A number of the fund’s limited partners also co-invested in the deal.