This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:33 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2025.
NH Nonghyup Financial Group subsidiary NH Nonghyup REITs Management will acquire four branches of the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives (KFCC) located in Seoul. It is analyzed that the KFCC, which has moved to improve its financial structure due to deteriorating profitability indicators, and NH Nonghyup REITs, which seeks to expand its operating performance, have joined forces.
According to the investment banking industry on the 15th, NH Nonghyup REITs is pushing forward acquisition procedures for Yeonsinnae Saemaeul Geumgo Bulgwang branch and Ipureun Saemaeul Geumgo in Eunpyeong District, Cheongpa Saemaeul Geumgo main branch in Yongsan District, and Ahyeon Saemaeul Geumgo Seogang branch in Mapo District. Among these, Cheongpa Saemaeul Geumgo and Ahyeon Saemaeul Geumgo plan to purchase only some floors of the entire building. Genstartmate provided acquisition advisory services, and legal due diligence was handled by Yoon & Yang LLC.
NH Nonghyup REITs Management will establish a securitized REIT to acquire the buildings and land. The purchase amount, including acquisition tax and due diligence costs, is about 60 billion won. The KFCC will sell the assets and then lease them back in a sale and leaseback arrangement, and a triple-net lease structure will also be applied, under which the tenant, the KFCC, bears maintenance fees, insurance premiums and property taxes.
About 25.5 billion won, roughly half of the real estate purchase price, will be invested as equity. The KFCC selling the buildings this time plans to reinvest in the form of equity. The remainder will be financed through a senior secured loan (30 billion won) and lease deposits (about 2.5 billion won). NH Nonghyup REITs will grant the KFCC a right of first negotiation to purchase that can be exercised starting at the point the lease contract reaches four years.
The reason the KFCC is selling branches located in prime locations is interpreted as an effort to resolve deteriorated soundness. The KFCC is experiencing full capital erosion, recording its largest net loss following bad real estate project financing loans in the first half of this year. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the net loss of 1,267 KFCCs nationwide was 1.3287 trillion won in the first half, an increase of 10.5% from 1.2019 trillion won in the same period last year.
An industry source said, "It appears that KFCCs that need to improve their financial structure by securing liquidity hurried the sales by entering transactions with a triple-net structure," and added, "Since more than 300 cooperatives have received management improvement measures, similar transactions are expected to occur in the future." As of the end of September this year, cooperatives that received management improvement measures numbered 314, about a quarter of the total 1,265 cooperatives.