이 기사는 2021년 11월 23일 08시05분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Profitability of International Finance Centre Seoul (IFC Seoul), which has recently been put up for sale by Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management, varies depending on the purpose of each building.

IFC Seoul is a commercial complex consisting of three office buildings, Conrad Seoul Hotel and IFC Mall, located at the center of Seoul’s financial hub Yeouido.

According to industry sources, the vacancy rate of the three office buildings is about 1%. They are almost fully leased, with less than 3,305 square meters of vacant space out of total 330,578 square meters available for rent in the buildings.

Brookfield owns the three IFC office buildings through different entities. All three entities are limited liability companies and have released their first audit reports in fiscal year 2020.

One IFC building is owned by SIFC Tower One Development, which recorded revenue of 36.8 billion won ($31 million) in 2020, up 8.1% from a year earlier. Its operating profit increased by 8.8% year-on-year to 40.3 billion won in 2020 and net profit surged by 74% to 40.3 billion won.

Revenue and operating profit of SIFC Tower Two Development, which owns Two IFC, decreased by about 10%, respectively, with its operating margin of 75.2% showing little difference from the previous year’s 75.4%.

Three IFC, which had a vacancy rate of 75% when Brookfield acquired the commercial complex about five years ago, marked a drastic turnaround after the acquisition, with SIFC Three Development’s revenue growing by 17.2% year-on-year to 62.8 billion won in 2020, the largest among the three office buildings. Its operating profit increased by 21.4% to 46.4 billion won.

It is notable that the net profit of all three corporations improved significantly last year. SIFC One Development’s net profit surged by 74% year-on-year, while net profits of SIFC Two Development and SIFC Three Development increased by a larger margin. This was due to an increase in non-operating profits thanks to the revaluation of the properties.

Unlike the office buildings, entities managing IFC Mall and Conrad Seoul Hotel showed weak performance last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The entity managing IFC Mall delivered revenue of 41.7 billion won in 2020, down 9.8% from the previous year. Its operating profit decreased by 12.3% and swung to a net loss. However, it is starting to show signs of recovery under the "living with Covid-19" scheme.

Revenue of the entity managing Conrad Seoul Hotel, SIFC Hotel Development, nearly halved to 37.8 billion won last year compared to a year earlier. It swung to an operating loss of 15 billion won and its net loss more than doubled to 28.2 billion won. It is currently in complete capital erosion. (Reporting by Gyoung-tae Kim)