Mirae Asset Global sells prime office building in Germany

Mirae Asset Global Investments, a local asset manager, said Monday that it has earned about 160 billion won ($135 million) in profit through the sale of a premium office building in Germany.

The asset management unit of Mirae Asset Financial Group has signed a deal to sell Taunusanlage 8, a prime office building located in Frankfurt, for 400 million euros ($449 million), the company said in a press release.
 

Having acquired the building in 2017 for 280 million euros through a private equity fund, Mirae Asset Global has made a marginal profit.

Counting in the 7 percent range interim dividend payment, the company’s internal rate of return will surpass 25 percent after the deal is closed, officials added.

“The (private equity) fund (to acquire the building) was to mature in October 2022 but we decided on an early disposal as we received a lucrative offer from a buyer with sufficient funding power,” said a company official.

The building’s current tenant list includes global law firm Linklaters, office space sharing platform WeWork, and commercial property insurer FM Global.

But when the item was put up for sale back in 2017, its vacancy rate soared to over 60 percent, despite its downtown location and accommodation capacity.

After winning the bid, Mirae Asset demanded a three-year guarantee on rent fees to ensure early-stage investment stability and profitability. It then only took a year for the company to raise the building’s lease rate up to 99 percent.

“The latest transaction has given us confidence that a well-located real estate property will eventually lead to profits, despites temporary vacancies,” said Choi Chang-hoon, head of the company’s real estate unit.

“We will continue our active efforts to locate lucrative overseas properties and provide our domestic investors with a globally diversified asset allocation portfolio.”

Mirae Asset Global is currently South Korea’s largest asset manager in terms of alternative investments.

Its landmark overseas real estate assets range from Mirae Asset Tower, a 33-story skyscraper in Shanghai, Four Seasons Hotel Sydney and Fairmont Hotel in Hawaii and in San Francisco.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)