BREAKTHROUGH IN THE CITY Why London's ... - Union Investment

Photos: DIFA(6)
PLACES & SPACES 34_35
Entering the Far East's emerging markets: For
DIFA Immo-Invest, DIFA bought the Seoul
Mobile Telecom Building, located in the office
sub-market Mok-Dong in Seoul, South Korea.
ABSCHNITT
DIFA moves into the Far East
� The unbridled economic development in the Far East has spurred
investor demand for high-quality office property in Asian cities on to
new heights. Among the emerging markets attracting both domestic
and foreign funds operators is South Korea’s capital, Seoul. According
to CB Richard Ellis, Seoul recorded large-scale office property transac-
tions worth around $933 million in the first half of 2006 alone. Now,
DIFA has completed its market entry in the Far East with an invest-
ment of around 50.9 million euros in the Korean capital.
After almost two years of preparation, DIFA acquired the Seoul
Mobile Telecom Building for its institutional open-ended fund, DIFA
Immo-Invest. Following recent investments in Turkey, Canada, and
Mexico, DIFA plans to strategically expand its international real estate
portfolio in the Asia-Pacific region through further acquisitions. “The
investment is proof of our consistent expansion in global growth
regions,” said DIFA board member Reinhard Kutscher. “The move into
South Korea will act as a gateway for us into other emerging countries
on the Asian continent, and therefore into markets with potential for
attractive returns.” This first investment in the Far East is the result of
an intensive preparation phase during which Asian market structures
and opportunities were analysed in cooperation with experienced as-
set manager ING Real Estate, together with a local team. Aside from
Seoul and Shanghai, DIFA is also preparing for purchases of office and
retail properties in Singapore and Tokyo. To that effect, it has opened
its third foreign office after New York and Madrid in Singapore.
The 17-storey Seoul Mobile Telecom Building enjoys a central loca-
tion in the established office sub-market Mok-Dong, which has
absorbed some of the overflow from the neighbouring office district
of Yoido. The building was completed in December 1999, and hous-
es some 34,000 square metres of space, which is 93 percent let. The
main tenants are the Internet order service Woori Homeshopping
and Samsung Life Insurance, one of the biggest life insurance com-
panies in South Korea.