Macquarie and Macquarie Global Property Advisors acquire office building In Seoul

05 April 2006

The Macquarie Group (Macquarie) and Macquarie Global Property Advisors (MGPA), a private equity real estate fund advisory company, announced today that they have signed a binding commitment to acquire an office development in Seoul for US$125.8 million.

The building will be acquired in a 50:50 joint venture between Macquarie and MGPA’s MGP Fund II. The property will be acquired upon completion of the building and land consolidation (subject to conditions precedent being met), which is scheduled for March 2007.

The building will be a 19-storey Grade A office tower, with a gross floor area of 34,173 square meters located near the Seoul City Hall in the Chung-gu Central Business District of Seoul.

Nick Ridgewell, Managing Director of Macquarie Real Estate Asia, said: “We are delighted to announce this acquisition, which represents an expansion of Macquarie’s property management business in the sought-after Korean market. This investment offers a rare opportunity to buy a new Grade A building in Seoul’s Central Business District.”

MGPA, Managing Director, Simon Treacy said: “This is an exciting investment opportunity for the Fund. We see excellent potential for this property given that the continual improvement of Korea’s economy is underpinning growth in the office market.”

“Chung-gu in the CBD is a prime location, with strong rental growth due to limited supply of prime office space and low vacancy rates of less than 5%. We expect supply to get tighter next year.

“We continue to eye further acquisitions in the Korean real estate market where we see excellent potential for investments that will maximise our returns for investors,” Mr Treacy said.

MGPA’s investment in this property follows its acquisition of two others last week, a 34-storey office and retail building in Hong Kong and a portfolio of eight office and logistics properties across Europe. Both investments were made on behalf of MGP Fund II which closed in September with commitments of US$1.3 billion.

Note to Editors

About Macquarie

The Macquarie Bank Group is a diversified international provider of specialist financial and investment services with over 7,600 people in 23 countries. Macquarie has expanded rapidly in Asia since it opened its first office in Hong Kong in 1994.

Macquarie employs over 1,200 staff in Asia and around the region offers corporate and structured finance, warrants and structured products, institutional stockbroking and research and property advisory and management services. 

Macquarie Real Estate is a diverse business offering a range of services including funds management (through subsidiaries), structured finance, development finance, advisory, research, global private equity raising, asset disposal strategies and property securitisation. More than A$31 billion of property assets are managed under the Macquarie brand, across a portfolio of listed and unlisted property trusts, unlisted development funds and property investment syndicates, globally.

Macquarie Global Property Advisors is a private equity real estate fund advisory company focused on real estate investment in Asia and Europe.

Through its headquarters in Bermuda and network of offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, London and Luxembourg, MGPA manages US$2.8 billion in assets in Hong Kong, Japan, China, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Its managed investments include development and re-development projects, joint-venture investments and real estate operating companies in the office, retail, industrial, residential and logistics sectors.

Owned by its Principals and Macquarie Bank Limited, a pre-eminent Australian bank providing investment banking and financial services, MGPA was formed in February 2004 as the result of a management buyout from Lend Lease Corporation of its Global Fund investment advisory platform.

For further information, please contact:

Lotte Pang
Media Relations, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 9805 4070

Jasmine Yap
Citigate Dewe Rogerson (for MGPA)
Tel: (852) 2533 4641
Email: jasmine.yap@citigatedr-hk.com

Sarah Gestetner
Citigate Dewe Rogerson (for MGPA)
(44) 20 7638 957
Email: sarah.gestetner@citigatedr.co.uk