410 Billion Loan Underwritten by Hana Securities
Land Secured in Urban Area for Development Project
Expanding Future Growth Portfolio
Hanwha, the holding company of Hanwha Group, has raised funds to develop a data center in downtown Seoul. The Hanwha Construction division, absorbed into the holding company Hanwha, is expanding its future growth portfolio by participating not only in large-scale complex development projects but also in data center construction and development projects.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 5th, 'Edgecore PFV' recently received a secured loan of 41 billion KRW with a 3-month maturity from a special purpose company (SPC) established under the management of Hana Securities. Edgecore PFV is a corporation established by Hanwha to build a data center in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. The SPC raised loan funds by issuing asset-backed securities based on the principal and interest repayment of the loan. If Edgecore PFV fails to properly repay the principal and interest at maturity, Hanwha has agreed to take responsibility for the loan repayment on its behalf.
Edgecore PFV is reportedly planning to use the raised funds to secure the site for the data center. Hanwha is promoting a project to develop a data center in the Yeongdeungpo-dong 2-ga area of Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul through Edgecore PFV. After securing the site with this loan, it is expected that the loan maturity will be extended, and once the project receives permits and approvals, project financing (PF) funds will be raised to commence construction of the data center.
In addition to large-scale complex development projects such as the northern station area of Seoul Station, Hanwha is expanding its role in the data center sector by securing construction orders and development projects as a future growth engine. Starting with winning the KT Gangnam IDC (Internet Data Center) project in 2004, Hanwha has secured and completed more than 11 data centers to date. These include Samsung SDS HPC located in Dongtan, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do, Ansan Kakao Dream Mark One, and Aegis data centers in Incheon and Goyang.
Recently, Hanwha is promoting a hyperscale (ultra-large) data center construction project with Changwon City in Gyeongsangnam-do. In this project, Hanwha is participating as a direct investor, moving beyond the role of a simple contractor to directly engage in development projects (developer).
Recently, as demand for data centers in downtown Seoul has increased, Hanwha is participating in data center construction and development projects across various parts of Seoul. An IB industry official said, "With the increase in new technology fields such as cloud services, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI), demand for data centers is rapidly growing," adding, "Some construction companies like Hanwha, which have extensive experience in data center construction and development projects, will dominate the market." The official also stated, "The investment industry is also expanding equity investments in development projects and supplying PF funds in response to the growing data center market."
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