Mingtiandi

Asia real estate and outbound investment news

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
Sign Up / Login Logout

Lost your password?
Register
Forgotten Password
Cancel

Register For This Site

A password will be e-mailed to you.

  • Capital Markets
  • Events
    • Mingtiandi 2023 Event Calendar
    • Mingtiandi APAC Residential Forum 2023
    • Mingtiandi Asia Logistics Forum 2023
    • Mingtiandi Hong Kong Focus Forum 2023
    • Mingtiandi APAC Data Centre Forum 2023
    • Mingtiandi Asia Office Strategies Forum 2023
    • Mingtiandi Singapore Focus Forum 2023
    • More Events
  • MTD TV
  • People
  • Logistics
  • Data Centres
  • Asia Outbound
  • Retail
  • Research & Policy
  • Advertise

Anbang in the Lead to Acquire Seoul’s Yuanta Securities Building

2017/03/13 by Tyler Roney Leave a Comment

Yuanta Securities building

The Yuanta Securities building in Euljiro, Seoul

THAAD? What THAAD? As relations between China and South Korea sour due to US missile installations and as capital controls continue to squeeze Chinese buyers, Anbang Insurance is said to be locked into exclusive negotiations to acquire an office building in central Seoul.

A Korean subsidiary of the mainland insurer best known for its $1.95 billion acquisition of New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel in 2015, is now said by senior brokers active in the market to be in the final stages of a deal to purchase Seoul’s Yuanta Securities building from UBS Hana Asset Management.

Maeil Business News Korea cited investment bank sources which indicated Tongyang Asset Management, has offered US$6539 per square meters for the asset in Seoul’s Euljiro area, with the deal expected to close by the end of the month.

The building, currently occupied by Yuanta Securities, is expected to become the new headquarters for Tongyang Life Insurance, which Anbang acquired along with Tongyang Asset Management in 2015. Yuanta was formerly Tongyang Securities but was renamed following a scandal in which the company sold high-risk bonds prior to the financial collapse of five affiliates.

In addition to Tonyang, Anbang’s interests in Korea include the acquisition of Allianz Life Insurance Korea purchased from Germany’s Allianz in late 2016. The two insurance companies combined make Anbang boss Wu Xiaohui the fifth-largest player in Korea’s insurance market and provide the company with a platform for asset purchases in the Korean market.

Unfazed by THAAD and capital controls

Anbang chairman Wu Xiaohui is now the fifth-biggest player in Korea’s insurance market

Anbang’s purchase of the Yuanta Securities building is part of a larger trend in Chinese purchases in Seoul, largely in apartments in upscale residential areas. Chinese companies and individuals have had a growing appetite for Korean property over the last few years; a report from KB Financial Group earlier this year that Chinese ownership of Korean land increased 2.62 million square meters in 2016. Between 2011 and 2016, land owned by Chinese entities increased 486 percent.

China’s sovereign wealth fund has also recently become active in the Korean real estate market. In Novemeber, China Investment Corporation (CIC) teamed up with Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management to buy the International Finance Centre in Seoul for $2.7 billion in Korea’s biggest real estate transaction of 2016.

Missiles and Real Estate Deals

News of Anbang’s potential acquisition comes amid friction between Korea and China over Korea’s deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

Today saw the closing of Lotte Shanghai Foods, a joint venture between Hershey Co. and South Korea’s well-known Lotte supermarkets, the latest in a string of economic attacks from Beijing on Korean businesses. Targeted by Chinese regulators, a total of 55 out of 99 Lotte supermarkets were shuttered across China since the THAAD controversy has been ramped up, according to Yonhap News Agency, and LG Household & Health Care reported on Friday that Chinese authorities closed a factory in Hangzhou.

Share this now

  • LinkedIn
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email

Filed Under: Outbound Investment Tagged With: Anbang Insurance, Featured, seoul, South Korea, weekly-sp

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get Mingtiandi Delivered

MTD TV

Fergal Harris, JLL
Ivanhoe, Phoenix, SDAX and JLL Talk the Ties That Bind Singapore and Australia
future office tb
C&W, TEC, Essensys and Lead8 Say Flexible Working is Here to Stay: MTD TV

More MTD TV Videos>>

People in the News

Kevin Bong AIMCo
Canadian Pension Manager AIMCo Sets Up in Singapore with Hire of GIC Exec
Jae Choi joins ICG from ESR
European Investment Giant ICG Expands APAC Team with Hire of ARA Veteran Jae Choi
Gerald Yong CDL
Asia Real Estate People in the News 2023-06-05
Li Congrui (Getty Images)
China Jinmao Chairman Resigns After One Month on the Job

More Industry Professionals>>

People in the News

Canadian Pension Manager AIMCo Sets Up in Singapore with Hire of GIC Exec

Kevin Bong AIMCo

Canadian pension fund manager Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo) has hired former GIC veteran Kevin Bong to … Read More>>

European Investment Giant ICG Expands APAC Team with Hire of ARA Veteran Jae Choi

Jae Choi joins ICG from ESR

Just one year after setting up operation in Asia Pacific, London-based fund manager ICG is adding to its senior … Read More>>

Asia Real Estate People in the News 2023-06-05

Gerald Yong CDL

Singapore’s largest non-state-backed developer leads this week’s set of staffing changes from around Asia’s real estate … Read More>>

China Jinmao Chairman Resigns After One Month on the Job

Li Congrui (Getty Images)

The recently appointed chairman of China Jinmao Holdings has walked out the door after just 33 days in the role, to be … Read More>>

More Industry Professionals>>

Latest Stories

Chindata CEO Huapeng Wu
Bain Bids to Take Chindata Private at 33% Premium
George Hongchoy, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer, Link REIT
Link REIT CEO George Hongchoy to Speak at Mingtiandi Forum in Hong Kong
Wang Jianlin of Dalian Wanda Group
Mainland Regulators Query Wanda Group Over Hong Kong IPO Application

Sponsored Features

Could Real Estate Ecosystems Be Your New Edge?
Data centers: Empowering a Data-Driven World
Singapore skyline
Asia Pacific Capital Markets: 2023 Insights and Priorities

More Sponsored Features>>

Connect with Mingtiandi

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Real Estate News

  • Capital Markets
  • 2022 Event Calendar
  • MTD TV Archives
  • People
  • Logistics
  • Data Centres
  • Asia Outbound
  • Retail

More Mingtiandi

  • About Mingtiandi
  • Contact Mingtiandi
  • Mingtiandi Membership
  • Newsletter Subscription
  • Advertise
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Join the Mingtiandi Team


© 2007-2023 China Advertising Media Ltd (Samoa). All rights reserved.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.