A consortium of Korea Investment & Securities Co. and Hana Asset Management Co. has been given the priority to negotiate a deal to buy the head-office building for the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Washington D.C. for about 400 billion won ($341.5 million), according to multiple sources from the investment bank industry on Tuesday.

It plans to complete the acquisition process in the first quarter of next year after reviewing details for fund-raising and overall investment structure.

Korea Investment & Securities is expected to cover half of the total purchase cost of 400 billion won and the remaining will be financed through loans from financial institutions. It aims to raise an annual return of between 6 and 7 percent.

As part of the investment plan, Korea Investment & Securities is expected to first purchase beneficiary certificates with its own equity capital before reselling them in a form of a public real estate fund to retail investors in which they can invest in the NASA headquarters building. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. had also introduced a similar public real estate fund worth 300 billion won in September, offering retail investors to invest in an office building in Dallas, Texas. The fund was sold out in only 10 days after it was launched.

The Korea Investment & Securities-led consortium was picked as the preferred bidder to buy the NASA headquarters building after the acquisition deal pushed forward by another Korean asset manager KTB Asset Management Co. was called off recently. The asset manager was in preparations to buy the building after being chosen as preferred bidder in October but the process was halted due to deteriorating investment environment such as hikes in borrowing costs following the U.S. presidential election last month.

Korea Investment & Securities-led consortium is known to have re-adjusted acquisition terms according to changing market conditions.

The nine-story building in Washington D.C. that has been used as NASA headquarters for the past 26 years rests on a total floor area of 56,200 square meters. The building went through 100 billion won worth of remodeling in 2012 and is rented out to NASA until 2029.

By Kang Doo-soon and Song Gwang-sup

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