이 기사는 2021년 07월 12일 07시38분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) plans to exit its 14-year investment in Seoul City Tower, a prime office building in central Seoul.

The tower is owned by KOCREF NPS REIT 1, of which the state pension fund holds a 100% stake. Koramco REITs & Trust, which manages the real estate investment trust (REIT), issued a request for proposals last week to select an adviser for the sale of the building, industry sources said. It reportedly aims to complete the sale before the end of the year,

Since its launch in 2006, KOCREF NPS REIT 1 has acquired four buildings in Seoul – Seoul City Tower, SIGMA Tower in Songpa, Grace Tower in Yeoksam and Golden Tower in Samseong-dong. The REIT offloaded two of them – Grace Tower for 160 billion won in 2015 and SIGMA Tower for 130 billion won earlier this year – and is said to have no plan to sell Golden Tower yet.

Seoul City Tower, which is up for sale, is the largest asset in the REIT’s portfolio. Located in the city’s central business district, the building has 23 stories above and eight under the ground, with total floor area of 18,153 pyeong, or 60,011 square meters.

The REIT purchased the building for 318.5 billion won ($277.3 million) in July 2007. The building was completed in 2002 and went through a renovation in 2011.

NPS and Koramco REITs & Trust seem to want to capitalize on rising property price in Seoul’s central business districts, industry watchers said. Taking into account that one of the nearby buildings was recently sold for about 25 million won per pyeong, Seoul City Tower is likely to fetch more than 450 billion won.

The building is said to generate rent of 80,000 won per pyeong. Its tenants include software service provider Tmoney, Korea Human Resource Development Institute for Health & Welfare and BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance.

The building’s vacancy rate is 13%-14%. But an industry insider said lease inquiries for the building have increased recently, adding that the vacancy rate is likely to have little impact on the sale price. (Reporting by Jin-young Ko)