이 기사는 2021년 07월 19일 07:54 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Emart Inc has started a process to sell its head office building in Seongsu-dong, east of Seoul.

Emart plans to receive proposals from real estate advisory firms for a role to handle the process to sell its head office building by Friday, industry sources said Thursday. “The company hasn’t decided when to announce its selections yet,” said an industry source. “It will depend on how long it will take to review proposals.”

In response to speculations last week that Emart hired CBRE to help sell its head office building, the company said “nothing has been finalized”. Industry insiders said CBRE is highly likely to be selected as Emart’s sale manager considering the company has reportedly worked with the real estate advisory firm so far.

It is said that many of the top five real estate advisory firms in the domestic market along with CBRE, including Savills, Cushman & Wakefield, JLL, and Avison Young, have decided not to submit their proposals.

Emart was expected to sell its head office building through a sale and leaseback, but the company is now reportedly reviewing a plan for a potential buyer to develop the site after Emart moves out of the building.

Emart is weighing this option to push up the sale price. The value of the head office building is estimated to be around 1 trillion won ($878 million). If Emart decides to sell the building through a sale and leaseback, the pool of potential buyers will likely be narrowed down to real estate investment firms.

However, more potential buyers, including real estate developers, real estate investment firms specializing in development, construction companies, and brokerage firms may participate in the tender if a buyer can develop the site. The price of the building is highly likely to rise during the bidding process.

Emart acquired SK Wyverns from SK Telecom for 100 billion won in February and its ecommerce platform SSG.com took over W Concept Korea for 265 billion won in April. Emart last month agreed to buy 80% of eBay Korea, which operates open market platforms Gmarket and Auction, for 3.44 trillion won.

Emart had cash and cash equivalents of 1.06 trillion won and short-term financial assets of 233.1 billion won on a consolidated basis as of the end of March. The company recorded earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of 1.37 trillion won in 2020. Emart needs to successfully sell its head office building to meet its cash needs to close the latest deal. (Reporting by Kyung-tae Kim)