Temasek-backed Mapletree is buying an office tower in Seoul for KRW452bn (€331m).

Mapletree’s listed Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT), along with the Mapletree group, through a subsidiary of Mapletree Investments, will jointly own the 20-storey Pinnacle Gangnam building.

The purchasers said the agreed price was 1.5% lower than the 15 September 2020 valuation.

MNACT will have first right of refusal to buy the Mapletree Investments stake in the building at Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu.

Hiew Yoon Khong, Mapletree’s group CEO, said: “Despite the current challenging global business landscape, we still see opportunities in the Seoul office market.”

Net absorption in Gangnam business district continued to be positive on the back of “robust” leasing demand, he said.

Cindy Chow, CEO of Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust Management, as manager of MNACT, said most of the leases at Pinnacle Gangnam had annual rental escalations within the lease term. Ninety-seven per cent of the leases carried an annual fixed increase of 2%-3%.

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