Brookfield raises $147 mn from Korea for US office portfolio: report

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. has secured $147.2 million in a mezzanine tranche from South Korea’s Kiwoom Asset Management Co. Ltd. on a US office portfolio it acquired last year, according to a local media report.

The mezzanine note is part of the $550 million financing Brookfield raised to buy seven office buildings in four eastern US states for $775.1 million, the Seoul Economic Daily said last week.

Brookfield has pumped its own capital of $225.1 million to fund the transaction.

Kiwoom resold the mezzanine tranche to Meritz Securities Co. Ltd. and other domestic institutional investors via a private vehicle which targets annual returns of around 7%.

The offices in the portfolio are leased to investment-grade tenants, including Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania and government institutions, the report added.

In 2016, Brookfield raised 1.6 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in senior loans from South Korean lenders to buy the International Finance Center complex in central Seoul for 2.5 trillion won from AIG Group.

Kiwoom manages 39 trillion won in assets.