Seoul landmark Donuimun D Tower put up for sale

South Korean real estate firm Mastern Investment Management is set to sell off Donuimun D Tower, a landmark office building in Seoul, for about 900 billion won ($684 million), people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Mastern will inform its limited partners of the expected sale price of the building and send a request for proposal (RFP) for the diverstment to advisory firms, sources said.

"The real estate firm is gauging the market’s appetite and likelihood of a transaction and will soon put the property on sale," a banking source said.

Mastern acquired the property in 2020 for 650 billion won and estimates the value has risen to 900 billion won. The prime office building serves as headquarters to chemical-to-construction conglomerate DL Group. It has 26 aboveground and seven below-ground floors with 86,269 square meters of floor area. 

Since 2020, the property has been leased out to DL Group for its headquarters and major affiliates such as construction firm DL E&C Co., DL Chemical and DL Energy Co. DL E&C is one of the limited partners in Mastern’s fund invested in the property.

Before Mastern bought the property, Kumho Industrial developed the building as part of a redevelopment project in the Donuimun area of Seoul. But the project stalled in 2009 following a workout of Kumho, which was later acquired by Kumho Asiana Group. 

In 2010, Hana Financial Group affiliate Hana Trust took over the loans for the real estate project and completed construction in 2020.

Challenges for the deal include the building’s location near Seodaemun station, which is 1-2 kilometers from the central business districts of Gwanghwamun and Euljiro, and the difficulty of attracting large funds to real estate. Mastern will consider such difficulties as it sets the sale price range and deal-making timeline, sources said.

Write to Byeong-Hwa Ryu at hwahwa@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.