Amazon hub in Prague acquired by brokerage

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Amazon hub in Prague acquired by brokerage

Samsung Securities has purchased a logistics center in Prague for approximately 180 billion won ($153.8 million).

The building is being leased by Amazon.com.

The securities company, of which 29.74 percent is owned by Samsung Life Insurance, directly paid 80 billion won to Boston-based AEW Global, while borrowing the rest from local financiers in the Czech Republic, according to sources in the finance industry.

The property, which serves as a logistics center for the region, is the e-commerce company’s only delivery hub in the country, and the lease with Amazon will run through 2030.

“The Czech Republic is in Eastern Europe, but its credit rating is stable, much like that of Korea,” said a source in the investment sector.

“The real estate loan rates stood at 1 percent there, and given that the building houses Amazon’s facility, it is considered as an attractive investment,” the source said.

Samsung Securities plans to sell the property again by forming a real estate fund, which will offer an anticipated return of 9 percent.

The latest purchase marks the fourth buyout of Amazon-leased logistics centers by Samsung Securities. In 2016, the brokerage acquired one located in Britain and concluded a similar deal in Hannover, Germany, in 2018. Earlier this year, it bought a delivery facility in Monchengladbach near Dusseldorf.

The combined value of the property purchases is 770 billion won.

“The deal is considered great if the tenant’s status is concrete,” a source said. “The Amazon-leased one is relatively free from the worries about the abrupt leaving of tenants.”

BY PARK SEONG-WOO [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]
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