Jumbo Seoul Building Sold to American Fund

I -Tower, Korea's largest building in terms of floor space, was sold to a U.S. investment fund, Lone Star Fund III LP, for 700 billion won ($538 million), Korea's largest real estate transaction to date. The new building is located in the Yeoksam area of Gangnam, southern Seoul.



Hyundai Development Co. said Tuesday that it has signed the sale contract with Lone Star for the 45 story, 206-meter-high building that has 212,207 square meters of floor space. Construction of the building is scheduled to be finished in September.



The price tag includes the estimated value of building, 613 billion won, an unpaid construction loan balance of 49 billion won and government congestion fees that Lone Star agreed to pay.



The entire amount of the purchase price will be in funds from overseas, giving a huge boost to this year's direct foreign investment inflow statistics.



"We will receive 90 percent of the payment, around $600 billion, this month in cash," said Lee Bang-joo, chief executive of Hyundai, "We will use the proceeds to repay the company's debts."



Construction of I-Tower began in May 1995.







by Sung Jong-soo

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