Daewoo E&C eyes North American prime real estate market

Jung Won-ju, vice chairman of Jungheung Group (third from left), shakes hands with Sam Mizrahi, chairman of Mizrahi Development. (Daewoo E&C)

Daewoo Engineering & Construction is exploring opportunities to enter the North American real estate development market with support from its majority shareholder Jungheung Group.

Along with a team from Daewoo E&C's overseas business unit, Jungheung Group Vice Chairman Jung Won-ju visited Toronto and New York from April 27 to Wednesday to assess the local real estate market and discuss potential projects with major developers.

"We plan to enter advanced real estate development markets such as US and Canada based on our experience in large-scale new urban development projects in Hanoi, Vietnam, and our track record of supplying the best housing in Korea," a Daewoo E&C official said.

In Canada, the group met with Sam Mizrahi, President of Mizrahi Development, to discuss Daewoo E&C's potential involvement in a condominium project in the Greater Toronto Area. The region, with a consistent influx of immigrants, experiences a chronic housing shortage and remains relatively immune to the global real estate market's recent downturn.

The delegation later traveled to New York, where they held talks with local estate developers, including the Related Group, one of the largest developers in the US.

They also visited the US unit of IGIS Asset Management, a Korean alternative investment provider, to explore collaboration opportunities on US development projects.

Daewoo E&C established an entity in the US last year and signed a memorandum of understanding with the asset manager on April 25 to bolster cooperation in overseas real estate development projects.

Junheung Group is the parent company of Herald Corp., publisher of The Korea Herald.

By Moon Joon-hyun(ethan_moon@heraldcorp.com)