This article was published on July 18, 2025, at 5:28 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site.
Kolon Group is reportedly pushing for the sale of Woojeong Hills Country Club (CC) behind the scenes, and there is interest in whether the group can overcome the gap in expectations with potential buyers. Honorary Chairman Lee Woong-yeol is said to hope for a selling price of over 200 billion won.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 18th, Kolon Group is said to be gauging market reactions regarding the sale of Woojeong Hills CC. To this end, they are reportedly considering selecting a major domestic accounting firm as the lead manager.
Woojeong Hills CC is an 18-hole membership golf course located in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. Alongside Raviebelle CC in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, it is one of the major golf assets owned by Kolon Group. Currently, the operation is managed by Green Narae, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kolon Glotech.
Kolon Group is known to be pursuing the sale of Woojeong Hills CC as part of proactive financial restructuring, aiming to liquidate non-core assets held by the group.
As of the end of last year, the debt ratio of Kolon, the holding company of Kolon Group, was 207%. Current liabilities, which must be repaid within a year, amount to 3.6 trillion won, exceeding current assets, which can be liquidated within a year, amounting to 2.38 trillion won by about 50%.
According to the golf and business sectors, the honorary chairman is believed to value the sale of Woojeong Hills CC at a minimum of 200 billion won, which translates to a desired price of over 1.1 billion won per hole. This is comparable to the per-hole price of the Cheongju CC, which the Daesiena Group is currently seeking to acquire.
An industry insider noted, "I've heard that the honorary chairman wants recognition of 250 billion to 260 billion won," adding, "In that case, the per-hole price would approach 1.4 billion won."
However, this is at odds with market expectations. Woojeong Hills CC is located in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. Given that the market value of metropolitan area golf courses, located within an hour to an hour and ten minutes' drive from Gangnam, Seoul, is typically set at around 9 billion to 10 billion won per hole, industry insiders explain that recognizing 1.1 billion won per hole for a course in South Chungcheong would not be easy.
Nevertheless, some point out that Woojeong Hills CC is a prestigious course capable of overcoming its geographical disadvantages. This year, Woojeong Hills CC ranked 5th in the 'Best Golf Courses in Korea' as selected by the representative golfing magazine Golf Digest. The membership price is around 540 million won, the highest in the Chungcheong region, and also ranks mid-to-high compared to courses in the metropolitan area. Industry experts predict that this 'brand premium' will be a variable in the success of the upcoming sale.