Exclusive
Choi Ki-won, Chair of SK Happiness Foundation, Establishes Private Company for Real Estate Rental Business

[비즈한국] Choi Ki-won, Chair of the SK Happiness Foundation and younger sister of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, has established a private company named 'Yugwan', according to reporting by Bizhankook. While Chair Choi's investment activities are well-known, they have primarily been simple investments rather than efforts to secure management control. However, as Chair Choi holds a 100% stake in Yugwan and maintains management control, attention is focused on what kind of business the company will conduct.

Chair Choi Ki-won established Yugwan on January 26 of this year with a capital of 900 million won. Chair Choi is the sole shareholder, holding a 100% stake. At the time of establishment, the company listed business purposes including real estate rental, investment consulting, management consulting, and wholesale of goods. Eight months later, on September 24, it added parking lot management, restaurant business, franchising, and advertising to its business scope.

Along with adding these business purposes, Yugwan has begun expanding its scale in earnest. First, it conducted a paid-in capital increase to boost its capital to 1.31 billion won. Chair Choi, as the sole shareholder, participated in the capital increase, so her stake remains unchanged. Furthermore, the company began raising funds, including borrowing 6 billion won from Chair Choi on the 27th of last month.

It has been confirmed that Yugwan's primary business is real estate leasing and subleasing. Real estate subleasing involves obtaining the right to lease properties owned by others and then re-leasing them to a third party. In July, the company signed building lease agreements with Boram Silup and in October with CJ CGV079160, and it also purchased tangible assets necessary for its subleasing business. However, as it was established this year, its financial performance cannot yet be verified.

Ahn Beom-hwan, Chair of Happiness F&C, was named as the CEO of Yugwan. Happiness F&C is a non-profit foundation under the SK Happiness Foundation. Additionally, Kim Moon-ho, former CEO of Kien Partners, joined as an internal director in September. Both individuals are considered close associates of Chair Choi Ki-won.

Yugwan has set its headquarters at the Seongsu-dong office building of the Wooran Foundation, which is operated by Chair Choi Ki-won. Bizhankook visited the Wooran Foundation building on the 3rd and confirmed that the 4th-floor office is shared with Yugwan. The Wooran Foundation is a culture and arts support foundation named after the late Park Gye-hee (pen name Wooran), former director of the Walkerhill Art Center and mother of SK Chairman Chey Tae-won and Chair Choi Ki-won.

A Yugwan official explained, "We plan to expand the business by focusing on real estate subleasing. There are no other business plans at the moment."