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| International Finance Center (IFC) Seoul located in the Yeouido financial district / Courtesy of IFC Seoul website |
By Anna J. Park
Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management plans to sell International Finance Center (IFC) Seoul, located in the capital's Yeouido financial district, and the market's attention is now on how much profit the Canadian asset firm could reap after owning the property for the last five years.
According to investment banking industry sources, Brookfield recently appointed Eastdil Secured, a top-tier global real estate investment banking company based in New York, to handle the sale. Eastdil Secured handled IFC Seoul's sale back in 2016 to Brookfield from the previous owner, AIG Group.
Local real estate experts had anticipated the sale, because Brookfield's global infrastructure fund, which had been raised to finance the IFC Seoul purchase in 2016, is set to mature soon.
Brookfield purchased IFC Seoul ― a complex consisting of IFC Office Towers, IFC Mall and Conrad Seoul Hotel ― for 2.5 trillion won ($2.15 billion) back in July 2016. The price of the complex is widely expected to exceed 3 trillion won, as its estimated price in late 2019 stood at 3.2 trillion won.
The complex was jointly developed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and AIG Group during the mid-2000s, as a key part of Seoul's ambitious plan to promote the capital as the financial hub of Northeast Asia.
More than 13 years after the completion of IFC Seoul, Seoul ranks 13th this year in terms of financial competitiveness, according to the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI). Although Seoul's ranking improved a few notches from the previous year, the city still lags behind other Northeast Asian cities, including Hong Kong (third), Singapore (fourth), Shanghai (sixth), Beijing (eighth) and Tokyo (ninth).
The IFC Seoul joint development project brought significant financial gains for AIG Group, and Brookfield Asset Management is highly likely to enjoy a considerable profit if it succeeds in selling the complex for the desired price.
Yet the original vision of elevating Seoul's status and competitiveness as a financial hub through the completion of IFC Seoul appears to have long since dissipated, while the capital still has a long way to go.
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