Hana Financial acquires $740 mn Seattle office tower

Hana Financial Investment has acquired a 95% stake in a 38-story downtown Seattle office tower for $740 million from Skanska AB, a Swiss-based multinational developer.

It marks the biggest purchase of a US-based office building since the COVID-19 struck early this year, according to the financial investment industry on Dec. 29.

Hana Financial was named the preferred bidder for the newly constructed Qualtrics Tower in September, winning the deal against contenders that included major securities firms and pension funds.

The high-rise office tower is deemed an attractive asset with steady returns, owing to its robust portfolio of tenants such as data company Qualtrics, the main tenant, which German software Group SAP acquired in 2018; cloud storage provider Dropbox Inc.; and job search company Indeed.com, with leases averaging 12 years.

Qualtrics Tower will be managed under Hana Alternative Asset Management Co.’s real estate fund, in which investors are likely to pocket a 6% annual return. Industry sources say it may climb to an 8% annual return upon reflecting profits gained from offloading assets.

Despite hurdles imposed by the pandemic, Hana Financial pursued the deal judging its investment value to be high, given that it is a new building located in Seattle, a rising hub for the IT industry, and holds long-term leases with promising IT firms.

“We will continue making investments into promising assets despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said an official from Hana Financial. 

The 89,100-square-meter tower construction was completed in January. The tower, formerly known as 2+U, was renamed the Qualtrics Tower as part of the lease deal with Qualtrics, the largest tenant occupying 39% of the total leasable space.

Meanwhile, Qualtrics filed paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday to get listed on the Nasdaq. 

Write to Seon-pyo Hong at rickey@hankyung.com
Danbee Lee edited this article.