Name: Korean Air Eyes Sale of Downtown LA’s Wilshire Grand Center
Brand: therealdeal.com
SKU: therealdeal-com-7
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Korean Air Eyes Sale of Downtown LA’s Wilshire Grand Center

preview

Javascript is disabled in your web browser.For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Please Allow Javascript and reload this page.The tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi may soon be up for sale, as the Korean conglomerate that owns it struggles to shore up its finances.Korean Air is in talks with investors regarding a possible sale of the 73-story Wilshire Grand Center in Downtown Los Angeles, the Korean Economic Daily , citing industry sources.The property was facing a $900 million debt maturity this month. On Wednesday, Korean Air’s board decided to lend to Hanjin International, the subsidiary that owns the mixed-used tower, in order to refinance the debt and sustain hotel operations hurt by the coronavirus, according to a local .A $300 million piece of that loan is expected to come from the Export-Import Bank of Korea, while the remaining $650 million will be funded by Korean Air itself. The bank loan will have a term of two years, while the company’s own loan is set to be paid off in one year.According to local media reports, creditor approval for the new financing was conditioned on the airline moving forward with a sale of the property. Korean Air is also in talks with a U.S. investor to sell a stake in Hanjin International, which together with a bridge loan would generate another $300 million for the firm.The sales process for Wilshire Grand is expected to kick off when business conditions for the 889-room InterContinental hotel improve.A representative for Korean Air said the firm has not “discussed the sale of the Wilshire Grand,” but confirmed it was in talks to sell a stake in Hanjin International to unidentified investors. “The company is having difficulties refinancing due to a sharp drop in demand for hotels and offices caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the airline said in a statement.Read moreThe tower, which opened its doors , was developed at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion. In addition to the hotel, the building includes 677,000 square feet of and 67,000 square feet of retail space. Korean Air’s latest values the Hanjin International subsidiary at $914.4 million.Like most airlines, Korean Air has taken a hit from a drastic decline in air travel in recent months, but its problems — and those of its parent conglomerate Hanjin Group — predate the pandemic. The group’s former chairman Cho Yang-ho died early last year, leading to a messy among his children over control of the company.Cho’s elder daughter Heather attracted international notoriety in 2014 with the so-called “” incident, after she ordered a Korean Air flight to return to the gate at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport because of the way a flight attendant served nuts. Cho’s only son Walter is now the group’s chairman and CEO.Heather Cho joined forces with an activist investor, Korea Corporate Governance Improvement Fund, in an attempt to seize control of the company earlier this year, but those efforts have so far been rebuffed. The activist fund had also pushed for a sale of the Wilshire Grand, noting in that the property has “no or low synergy with [the] aviation industry” and “suffer[s] from chronic losses.”Contact Kevin SunTagsarrow_forward_iosCecil Hotel, Project Roomkey addressed by LA Homelessness CommitteeGoing up: Lithia Motors plans five-story Porsche dealership near DTLANewly approved Sunset Boulevard megaproject up for saleOwner of DTLA building where blast injured 11 firefighters escapes jail timeBrookfield wants to add 34-story apartment tower to DTLA office complexAIDS Healthcare Foundation buys Barclay Hotel in DTLADTLA’s Union Bank Plaza hits market againDowntown LA’s Proper Hotel to open in July after years of delaysarrow_forward_iosThis website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.NecessaryNecessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.REAL NEWS, REAL DEALS DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO YOUThe Deal's newsletters give you the latest scoops, fresh headlines, marketing data, and things to know within the industry.

Javascript is disabled in your web browser.For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Please Allow Javascript and reload this page.The tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi may soon be up for sale, as the Korean conglomerate that owns it struggles to shore up its finances.Korean Air is in talks with investors regarding a possible sale of the 73-story Wilshire Grand Center in Downtown Los Angeles, the Korean Economic Daily , citing industry sources.The property was facing a $900 million debt maturity this month. On Wednesday, Korean Air’s board decided to...

Korean Air Eyes Sale of Downtown LA’s Wilshire Grand Center

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS