This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) website at 2:54 p.m. on Mar. 17, 2026.
Woongjin group is pushing to sell Lexfield Country Club (CC), a prestigious members-only golf course in Yeoju, Gyeonggi. The desired sale price is more than 300 billion won, which is seen as a gambit to respond to a large debt maturity coming in June.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 17th, Woongjin group is sounding out some potential buyers on whether they are interested in acquiring Lexfield CC. There is said to be no lead manager.
Woongjin wants at least 11 billion won per hole. Given the total 27-hole scale and the presence of idle land, the hoped-for sale price is estimated to approach 300 billion won.
Financial pressure lies behind Woongjin group pulling out the Lexfield CC sale card. The group faces the June maturity of about 200 billion won in bridge loans it raised on its own credit during last year's acquisition of Preedlife.
In June last year, Woongjin group bought the funeral service company Preedlife and financed the entire approximately 900 billion won acquisition price from outside sources. For the 500 billion won senior acquisition financing, Woori Bank and DB Securities split the amount in half, while for the 100 billion won mezzanine tranche, DB Securities took 80 billion won and Woori Investment & Securities took 20 billion won. The remaining 300 billion won is "equity credit"-type funding based on the group's credit. Of that, excluding 100 billion won in perpetual bonds (30-year maturity), 200 billion won had a one-year maturity set. Equity credit was secured by collateral consisting of the group's tangible assets, including Lexfield and Woongjin Playdoci.
There are reportedly no shareholding-structure obstacles to selling Lexfield CC. There are no contractual clauses such as tag-along rights between the largest shareholder Woongjin Co. and the No. 2 shareholder Geukdong Construction, so it is possible to sell only the Woongjin side's management-control equity separately. Woongjin Co. and Geukdong Construction each held 43.24% of Lexfield CC, but through a paid-in capital increase last year, Woongjin Co. raised its stake to 66.67%. Geukdong Construction was formerly an affiliate of Woongjin group, but after undergoing court receivership, its largest shareholder changed in 2016 to a consortium led by Sewoon Construction.
Accordingly, the fact that a new owner who buys Woongjin's equity would have to continue an "uneasy cohabitation" with Geukdong Construction could be a burden for potential buyers. Geukdong Construction has kept Woongjin group in check whenever it tried to strengthen its influence over Lexfield CC. In Nov. 2017, when Lexfield CC pursued a 5 billion won third-party paid-in capital increase targeting Woongjin Co., and again during last year's paid-in capital increase, it filed for an injunction to prohibit issuance.
Woongjin group's high expectations are also expected to make closing a sale difficult. An IB industry official said, "Last year Aekyung Group sold Jungbu CC at 11 billion won per hole, which generally raised the bar for conglomerates that own golf courses," adding, "But considering the current state of the golf market, that level is burdensome for buyers."
One of the biggest reasons Woongjin is bound to hope for a high sale price is taxes. Current individual shareholders of Lexfield include Kim Myeong-su (1.47%), the brother-in-law of Chairman Yoon Seok-geum; Yoon's eldest son, Yoon Hyeong-deok, Lexfield CC vice chairman (1.11%); and second son Yoon Sae-bom, Woongjin vice chairman and CEO (1.11%).
The biggest burden is capital gains tax. For ordinary unlisted company shares, even for major shareholders, a 20%–25% capital gains tax rate typically applies. However, Lexfield CC is a corporation whose assets consist mostly of golf course real estate. In this case, individual shareholders are subject not to the stock transfer tax rate but to progressive taxation under the same basic rates as real estate (6%–45%). The larger the sale proceeds, the more steeply the rate rises, effectively requiring nearly half of the capital gains to be paid in taxes. In addition, a local income tax equal to 10% of the capital gains tax is levied separately.
Separate from capital gains tax, a securities transaction tax amounting to 0.35% of the transfer amount (transaction price) can also arise. Unlike listed shares, unlisted shares involve large transaction prices, so the transaction tax alone can generate costs in the hundreds of millions of won.
Lexfield CC also held sale talks in 2021 with a mid-sized pharmaceutical company, but the deal fell through after the sides failed to narrow differences over the high valuation.
A Woongjin group official officially denied that a sale is being pursued. Even so, the official said, "If a good proposal comes from the market, we could review it."