Weave Living (Weave), which operates rental accommodation units across Asia Pacific, has announced a strategic partnership with global investment firm KKR to invest in rental housing assets in South Korea, with a focus on Seoul.
In a statement on Tuesday, Weave said KKR will hold a majority stake in the strategic partnership, while Weave will hold the remaining minority stake in addition to providing a range of management services to the venture as development manager and operating partner.
The initial capital is set to be used to build a rental housing asset portfolio of some 1,200 units, though the firms intend to scale the programme over time as opportunities arise.
The asset portfolio will operate under the Weave Living brand umbrella, and Weave plans to offer its full repertoire of brand options to renters in South Korea.
“Korea has been a cornerstone of our Asia-Pacific real estate strategy for a decade, and we are thrilled to make our foray into the urban rental market which represents an emerging investment segment in Seoul,” said David Cheong, Managing Director and Co-Head of Acquisitions in KKR’s Asia Real Estate team.
“We are also pleased to establish this venture with Weave, with whom we have developed a trusted and aligned relationship. Together, we look forward to leveraging our respective skills to expand this strategic partnership to better serve our tenants over the long term,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sachin Doshi, founder and Group CEO of Weave, said renters in South Korea have been facing various housing issues and that there is a gap in the well-designed and located rental home market.
“We believe the opportunity is extremely large, and our goal is to facilitate the institutionalisation of the rental housing market in the country by introducing the Weave model to the market,” he said.
This transaction marks KKR’s first investment programme in the rental housing sector in South Korea, though it already manages several assets in the country including office towers located in Seoul’s central business district and logistics centres across the country.
Founded in 2017, Weave currently owns and operates approximately 2,500 rental accommodation units across the Asia-Pacific region under its four consumer brands — WEAVE STUDIOS, WEAVE PLACE, WEAVE SUITES and WEAVE RESIDENCES — catering to a broad and diverse needs of renters.
South Korea is Weave’s fourth market in the region, following Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan
