Conrad Seoul up for sale with $748 million price tag

Conrad Seoul, a 5-star hotel located in Yeouido, western Seoul [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The building of Conrad Seoul, a five-star hotel at the heart of the Yeouido financial district, western Seoul, is up for sale, with its estimated value worth around one trillion won ($748 million).

Brookfield Asset Management, a Canadian alternative investment firm owning the asset, is currently in the process of exploring the sale of the Conrad Seoul Hotel, which is situated within the International Finance Center (IFC) complex, according to local media reports citing investment banking sources. Brookfield is reportedly conducting the sale process without the conventional distribution of Request for Proposal (RFP) documents to real estate advisory firms, discreetly seeking potential buyers behind the scenes.

Brookfield declined to comment.

Back in November 2016, Brookfield acquired the entire IFC Seoul complex for 2.55 trillion won. The acquisition included the IFC shopping mall, three office towers and the Conrad Hotel, encompassing 602,205 square meters (6,482,080 square feet).

Recent market challenges, including persistently high-interest rates and exchange rate fluctuations, are believed to have led Brookfield to consider the possibility of selling only the Conrad Seoul hotel within its portfolio.

Market experts have pegged the minimum value of Conrad Seoul at 1 trillion won. The valuation is driven by consistently high room occupancy rates predominantly by business clientele, rather than traditional tourists.

Meanwhile, Brookfield is involved in a legal dispute with Mirae Asset Global Investments, Korea's major asset manager, after its initial attempt to sell the entire IFC property to Mirae fell through. The deal was not materialized since Korea's regulator did not approve the establishment of a real estate investment trust or REITs proposed by Mirae. The investment company planned to use the funding from the investment vehicle as a resource for acquiring the property.

Singapore International Arbitration Centre is reviewing the case after Mirae filed a complaint following Brookfield's rejection to pay back the counterpart's deposit worth 200 billion won.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]