The estimated value of land owned by South Korea's 10 biggest business groups rose to a record high last year due in part to the purchase of the headquarters of the Korea Power Electric Corp. (KEPCO) by Hyundai Motors Co. and its affiliates, a market researcher said Monday.
Hyundai Motor Co. and some of its affiliates purchased the 79,345-square-meter plot in southeastern Seoul for 10.55 trillion won ($8.96 billion) in late 2015 to build a Seoul landmark featuring the country's tallest skyscraper, a global business center, a hotel, and a convention and exhibition center.
The appraised value of the land owned by the conglomerates surged 2.8 percent to 74.1 trillion won last year from a year earlier, according to data by Chaebul.com.
By group, Hyundai Automotive Group was the biggest land owner with holdings estimated at 24.3 trillion won, up 0.4 percent from the previous year.
Samsung Group came in second with 14.1 trillion won, up 0.2 percent, followed by Lotte Group with 10.7 trillion won, for a gain of 0.4 percent.
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, had 5.03 trillion won worth of land last year, up 51.7 percent from the previous year. The sharp rise was due to the 1.7 trillion won of appraisal profit from the re-evaluation of the land owned by the company.
GS Group had 1.1 trillion won of land last year, down 21.8 percent from the previous year. GS sold off some of its real estate last year to secure cash.
By company, Lotte Shopping Co. had the largest amount of land totaling 7.8 trillion won, trailed by Hyundai Motor Co. with 7.6 trillion won and Samsung Electronics Co. with 6.2 trillion won. (Yonhap)
