The South Korean real estate fund JR Global REIT has filed for bankruptcy protection in Seoul after failing to repay 40 billion won (€23 million) in short-term debt.
JR Global REIT, which owns the Finance Tower in Brussels, is the first publicly listed real estate fund in South Korea to default on payments, prompting alarm in the country.
Its credit rating has been downgraded to “junk grade” due to the financial troubles.
South Korea has partially blamed Belgium for the default.
The Finance Tower, the tallest and most expensive office building in Brussels, houses employees of Belgium’s Federal Public Service for Finance and is a key asset of JR Global REIT.
It was purchased for €1.2 billion just before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the value of office properties has since plummeted.
Reports suggest the Finance Tower might be sold, likely at a significant loss.
The building’s sale in 2020 had reignited criticism of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt’s government, which sold several public buildings for relatively low prices in the early 2000s only to lease them back at high rates.
