이 기사는 2020년 04월 06일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

South Korea’s securities firms which have invested in real estates in Paris are concerned about their investments due to sluggish sell-down processes.

Domestic securities firms and asset management firms reportedly acquired around 10 properties in Paris in 2019, most of which are in the La Defense business district. Tour Europe, Tour Majunga, Tour CBX and Tour Eqho are in the same district. The Crystal Park, which was acquired by Samsung Securities for 691 million euros, is located near La Defense.

South Korean firms have snapped up real estates in Paris to achieve stable and relatively high rate of return. The annual expected return is said to be between seven to eight percent although it varies depending on the type of assets. This makes investors achieve a five percent return excluding foreign currency effects. “Domestic brokerage firms don’t enough experiences in overseas real estate investments,” said an industry source, adding, “When a pre-emptive investment is made, followers tend to implement similar strategies, which made firms mainly focus on Paris last year.”

In terms of investment structure, securities firms normally finance around 60 percent of the investment through a loan from local lenders and the rest from equity investors. When making equity investments, securities firms acquire the total amount and conduct sell-down schemes.

The sell-down results vary from deal to deal. It is said that securities firms haven’t completed their sell-down processes for more than half of equity investments they made in Paris last year. Samsung Securities has resold around 70 percent of equity interests in the Crystal Park. The sell-down process of Tour Majunga, which was acquired by Mirae Asset Daewoo in partnership with Amundi Real Estate, has also been sluggish. Of the total equity interests, Mirae Asset Daewoo acquired an 85 percent while Amundi acquired a 15 percent. Mirae Asset Daewoo has reportedly resold around 30 percent of its equity interests. The brokerage firm is said to be discussing the sell-down scheme with foreign investors as well.

NH Investment & Securities and Meritz Securities have made little progress in the resale of Tour Eqho while Hana Financial Investment and Daishin Securities are also working to sell down their equity investment in Tour CBX.

A prolonged resale of firms’ equity interests would result in weak financial soundness, represented by net operating capital ratio (NCR). Investment banks with more than three trillion won equity capital recorded an average NCR of 185 percent in 2018, which dropped to 163 percent in the third quarter of 2019. The decline was partly due to the prolonged sell-down.

A failure to resell their equity interests in a timely manner would result in liquidity issues, increasing the risk of missing attractive investment opportunities in the future.

(By reporter Kim Byung-yoon)