Mirae Asset to exit from German building in two years for strong gain

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. is set to exit from an office building in Frankfurt with handsome gains, just two years after acquiring the 17-story Taunusanlage 8 (T8) for 300 million euros ($335 million).

The financial terms of the upcoming sale have yet to be disclosed, but they are attractive enough for Mirae Asset to decide to make an earlier exit than it had expected, South Korean news provider MoneyToday reported on May 22, citing investment banking sources.

A source with knowledge of the matter confirmed it, but declined to give further details.

“Mirae is still in the early stages of the investment, but proceeded with the sale after the buying side  contacted it first,” one unnamed source was quoted as saying. “The proposed terms were attractive enough to decide on the exit.”

Mirae Asset, a fund management arm of South Korea’s top investment company, has recently selected a preferred buyer of the building, completed in October 2016.

The deal is expected to close later next week.

In April 2017, Mirae Asset acquired T8 from Credit Suisse Asset Management.

For the purchase, it had raised 145 billion won from domestic institutional investors, including Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. Ltd. The brokerage affiliate company had made principal investment of an undisclosed amount in the property.

Law firm Linklasters uses one third of the building which has a floor space of 29,163 square meters.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Asset Management Co. Ltd. has recently secured around 33 billion won in capital gains from the exit of Marks & Spencer’s headquarters building in London in late April.

It sold the Waterside House located near London Paddington Stationfor reportedly for 328.5 billion won, five and a half years after the acquisition.

Including the capital gains and rents, the property investment generated an internal rate of return of over 9% per year in the UK pound.

By Hyunil Lee

hiuneal@hankyung.com