CWK - Cushman & Wakefield Completes $444M Sale of Young City Office Complex in Seoul

Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) successfully sold Young City office complex in Seoul, South Korea on behalf of Fountain Valley PFV whose major shareholder is Actis LLP, a British private equity investment firm, to a consortium of D&D Investment (SK D&D) / NH Investment & Securities for more than $444 million (KRW 550 billion).

Cushman & Wakefield's Investment Advisory Team acted as the sole agent on behalf of the seller, closing the deal and delivering more than 34% IRR (Internal Rate of Return).

Young City is the first prime office complex located in the Mullae-dong neighborhood, Yeongdeungpo-gu district of Seoul and is composed of two buildings totaling over 1 million square feet. After appointing Cushman & Wakefield in Korea as the sales agent, Young City modified its disposal strategy to sell the asset upon its stabilization, and successfully attracted investor interest after achieving a 97% occupancy rate with key tenants Citibank Korea and SK Telecom.

"The success factor of Young City was that it has stabilized the WALE (Weighted Average Lease Expiry) to more than 5 years based on solid long-term investment vision and aggressive rental management of the Developer, and thereby exceeding the concerns on supply issue expected in YBD. I also believe we successfully satisfied both the seller and the buyer by not only strongly addressing the future development potentials nearby Young City during the marketing process, but also by helping them reach negotiation with 1% or so adjustment of the initial offering price. Last but not least, selecting the bidder who proposed stable financing structure that could minimize the funding and closing risk in this unstable market environment due to COVID-19, rather than simply choosing the bidder with the highest price surely attributed to the successful closing of the deal,” says YK Son, the Senior Executive Director of the Investment Advisory Team at Cushman & Wakefield.

D&D Investment, AMC who purchased the office complex, is already raising high expectations in the market as it plans to make Young City go public in the REITs market with NH Investment & Securities.

About Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) is a leading global real estate services firm that delivers exceptional value for real estate occupiers and owners. Cushman & Wakefield is among the largest real estate services firms with approximately 53,000 employees in 400 offices and 60 countries. In 2019, the firm had revenue of $8.8 billion across core services of property, facilities and project management, leasing, capital markets, valuation and other services. To learn more, visit www.cushmanwakefield.com or follow @CushWake on Twitter.

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