This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 5:39 p.m. on Apr. 8, 2026.
The IOTA Seoul 2 project (redevelopment of Metro Tower and Seoullo Tower), an extra-large mixed-use development around Seoul Station, has escaped the brink of a court-ordered sale and entered a normalization phase. This comes as NH Investment & Securities finalized a capital injection following Meritz Financial Group, which had stepped in as a new senior lender. As this refinancing enters the final stage, the likelihood of a forced sale stemming from enforcement of collateral rights is expected to fall significantly.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 8th, NH Investment & Securities held an investment review committee meeting that day and confirmed participation in a senior loan of about 130 billion won for YD816PFV, the IOTA Seoul 2 development corporation. With Meritz Financial Group, led by Meritz Securities, having decided to inject 360 billion won in senior funds earlier and NH Investment & Securities now joining, the closing of the refinancing is coming into view.
With this decision, the IOTA Seoul 2 project, which had been driven to the brink of a court-ordered sale, appears to be entering a path to normalization. The IOTA Seoul 2 project failed to convert to the main project financing (PF) in Jan., triggering an event of default (EOD) on a bridge loan of about 480 billion won, and the existing lending group had been considering pursuing an asset auction on the 10th. However, with new senior funds flowing in, the likelihood of completing a refinancing before the auction execution has grown.
In this refinancing, Meritz Financial Group and NH Investment & Securities are participating as senior lenders, with Sono Hospitality Group joining as a junior investor. Sono Hospitality Group previously submitted a letter of commitment (LOC) for an investment of about 70 billion won and stepped up as a junior investor, which in turn drew in senior investment. Meritz Securities has already completed its investment review, and Meritz Fire & Marine is scheduled to conduct its review within this week. The industry views this as a case where investor confidence accumulated step by step, leading to a successful fundraising.
IOTA Seoul 2 is a project to demolish the Metro Tower and Seoullo Tower sites near Seoul Station and build a large office complex with a total floor area of a little over 120,000 square meters. Along with IOTA Seoul 1, which is developing the former Millennium Hilton Hotel site, it is one pillar of the integrated "IOTA Seoul" development project with a total project cost of about 7 trillion won. The combined total floor area of the two projects reaches 460,000 square meters, making it the largest mixed-use development around Seoul Station.
The market sees this deal as an example showing a deepening polarization in the PF market. Even as tight conditions persist in financial markets, funds are flowing into large projects whose prime location around Seoul Station and business feasibility have been verified, while fundraising is becoming increasingly difficult for business sites with weaker competitiveness, highlighting a clear financing gap.
An industry official said, "With the participation of NH Investment & Securities, the likelihood of normalizing the project through refinancing has become very high," adding, "With major financial groups and securities firms coming in as senior lenders one after another, the project's credibility has risen significantly."