The UK-based investment firm Aberdeen is consistently generating profits in the domestic commercial real estate market, drawing significant attention from the industry.

Aberdeen signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to sell its stake in Samwon Tower, which it purchased in 2019 for about $92.6 million (approximately $8,800 per m²), to Pacific Investment Management. The sale price is approximately $112 million, or $10,600 per m². It is known that Pacific Investment Management has a strategic investor (SI) backing the deal.

Samwon Tower is an office building with five underground floors and 20 above-ground floors, totaling 41,365 m² of floor area. Samwon Steel owns floors 1 to 10, while Aberdeen owns floors 11 to 20.

Aberdeen is an investment firm that pursues a value-add strategy by purchasing undervalued assets, enhancing their value, and reselling them at higher prices to achieve high returns. Although Aberdeen applied this value-add approach when acquiring the partially owned Samwon Tower, it was unable to find a clear solution and has now put it on the market.

Nevertheless, Aberdeen is expected to generate a substantial profit from this Samwon Tower transaction. Considering that Aberdeen typically uses leverage of 60–70% when investing, the equity invested in Samwon Tower is estimated to be around $38 million. This means Aberdeen earned over 50% returns in six years.

Earlier this year, in the first quarter, Aberdeen sold Crystal Square, a prime office building in Euljiro, Seoul, completed in 2021, to LB Asset Management for about $159 million (approximately $11,200 per m²). Crystal Square consists of six basement levels and 17 floors above ground, with a total floor area of 18,423 m². LB Asset Management attracted Leadcorp, the financial affiliate of M2N — the largest shareholder of Sillajen — as a strategic investor.

Aberdeen initially purchased Crystal Square from the developer Capital Land Investment Management at about $8,800 per m², paying approximately $115 million. Assuming an equity investment of roughly $38 million, Aberdeen made a capital gain of $44 million in less than four years, achieving a return of over 100%.

In 2018, Aberdeen sold the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering building in Dae-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul (now the iM Finance Center) to DGB Asset Management for about $146 million. Aberdeen had bought it from Daewoo Shipbuilding in 2016 for approximately $131 million, making about a 30% profit in just two years.

In 2012, Aberdeen acquired BNK Digital Tower (formerly Platinum Tower), a building with divided ownership, for about $153 million. After resolving the ownership issues, Aberdeen sold it to BNK Asset Management in 2020 for approximately $243 million.

An industry insider commented, “Aberdeen, with its clear value-add strategy, carefully chooses which types of assets to buy, how to increase their value, and when to sell, operating with a nimble plan based on market conditions. Their judgment on timing of sales is particularly rational.”

Because of this, the market always pays close attention to which properties Aberdeen is interested in and the strategies they apply.

Recently, Aberdeen has been negotiating detailed terms with the seller, Pebblestone Asset Management, for the acquisition of Pacific Tower in Seosomun-dong, Jung-gu. Aberdeen withdrew from a sale bidding process at the end of last year because the bid prices did not meet expectations. Aberdeen is reportedly focusing on the fact that Pacific Tower’s value will be significantly enhanced once the large-scale redevelopment in Seosomun—including Donghwa Building, the former JoongAng Ilbo Building, and Seosomun Building—is completed.