JLL consortium advises on major Korea office transaction

SEOUL: January 5, 2023 - JLL (NYSE: JLL) today announced that, jointly with NAI Propertree and Deloitte, it acted as a consortium sales advisor on behalf of EDN Investment Management, to complete the transaction of the fund’s beneficiary certificates for GB I & GB II Tower (total GFA 57,680m²), located in the highly sought-after Pangyo Techno Valley in Seoul, South Korea. 

Eden Asset Management purchased the office assets in April 2022 and operated fund (Eden General Private Real Estate Investment Trust No. 10) since. According to JLL, 100% of the beneficiary certificates of the fund was transacted at KRW 385 billion (USD 297.3 million) on an asset sale basis.

A number of beneficiaries, including SK Securities, were able to secure abundant liquidity and profits in a short period of time through the successful sale of beneficiary certificates throughout volatile market conditions. 

Active marketing was carried out to overseas investors and end users, attracting interest from a large number of potential buyers. Through limited competitive bidding, a preferred bidder was selected, and the transaction was successfully completed within the deadline.

“These are high-quality assets located in the most desirable office location in Pangyo Techno Valley, where leasing demand is high. In current market situation, where the risk of transaction termination is increasing due to the increasing market uncertainties and deterioration of the financial environment, our selective and intensive marketing efforts to target investors who have actual investment capacity and can execute, were critical factor in deriving the successful transaction within the timeline.” says Chaehun Chang, Managing Director of JLL Korea.

Pangyo has quickly become the fourth major office district in Seoul and has boasted 0% vacancy since 2018 due to strong demand from technology companies located in the area. Pangyo's position as an office district will be strengthened due to the ease of securing talented individuals and comparably lower rents than Gangnam, which is comprised of a similar tenant mix.