JS Corporation Becomes New Owner of Namsan Hyatt Hotel

Luxury handbag original equipment manufacturer (OEM) company JS Corporation is set to become the new owner of the 5-star Namsan Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul.

The exterior view of Grand Hyatt Seoul Hotel
Photo by Asia Economy DB

According to industry sources on the 1st, JS Corporation announced on the 31st of last month that it will lend funds to JS747 to acquire 100% of the shares of Seoul Mirama Co., Ltd., the ownership company of the Grand Hyatt Seoul located in Namsan. The loan amount is 100 billion KRW, which accounts for 39.14% of its equity capital.

In the disclosure, JS Corporation stated, "We plan to acquire shares of JS747 through a capital conversion of the loan in the future." JS747 is known as a special purpose company (SPC) established with 50% investment each from JS Corporation and Blue Cove Asset Management No.1 General Private Investment Trust (REF).

Earlier, Blue Cove Asset Management announced that it had signed a contract to purchase the Grand Hyatt Seoul for a price in the early 700 billion KRW range. This amount includes approximately 300 billion KRW in debt of the Grand Hyatt Seoul, meaning JS Corporation will bear part of the actual acquisition cost.

As a result, JS Corporation now has the potential to become the actual acquirer of the Grand Hyatt Seoul.

The Grand Hyatt Hotel opened in 1978 as the first Hyatt chain hotel in Korea. It has 615 rooms on approximately 60,000 square meters of land and is strategically located for security, having hosted former and current U.S. presidents such as Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Barack Obama.