ASIA NEWS: CPPIB’s Korea vision

The Canadian pension plan has purchased a stake in a Seoul office development, marking its first property investment in Korea. PERE Magazine October 2013 issue.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has acquired a stake in an office development near the Gangnam business district in Seoul, representing its first Korean property investment.

The C$188.9 billion pension paid $116 million for a 50 percent stake in Samsung SRA Private Real Estate Investment Fund IV, a single-asset

vehicle run by the asset management subsidiary of Korean insurer Samsung Life Insurance, which controls the development. Scheduled for completion in May 2014, the 1.1 million-square-foot office project is pre-leased to Samsung SDS, Korea’s largest IT services company, which intends make the property its headquarters.

“We see this investment as an attractive entry point into the Korean market,” said Graeme Eadie, senior vice president and head of real estate investments at CPPIB, in a statement. “As Asia’s fourth largest economy, South Korea is a key market with stable long-term growth prospects.”

CPPIB’s foray into Korea follows a busy year of real estate investment in Asia, particularly in logistics. Indeed, the pension increased its equity commitments to ventures with the Goodman Group in China (to $1.5 billion) and with Global Logistic Properties in Japan (to $1.132 billion).