Conglomerates expand property assets amid market slump in South Korea

South Korea's top 10 business groups saw the value of their real estate assets reach an all-time high in 2013 as they hunted for bargains amid a prolonged property market slump, data showed Sunday.The combined value of real-estate assets held by the business groups came to 60.3 trillion won (US$55.5 billion) as of end-December, up 4.8 percent from the 57.5 trillion won tallied a year earlier, the data by market researcher Chaebul.com showed.The researcher attributed the increase to the country's sluggish property market, which induced local business groups to rake in real estate assets at bargain prices for investment purposes.The value of their business-purpose real estate such as factory sites rose 5.3 percent on-year to reach 52.5 trillion won, with that for investment gaining 1.5 percent to 7.7 trillion wonHyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest automotive conglomerate, was the largest holder of properties with 12.6 trillion won, followed by No. 1 conglomerate Samsung Group with 11.7 trillion won.Lotte Group saw its property assets reach 10.7 trillion won as of the end of last year, trailed by LG Group with 4.9 trillion won and SK Group with 4.6 trillion won.By company, Lotte Shopping Co., South Korea's No. 2 retailer, held the largest property assets at 7.9 trillion won, followed by the world's No. 1 smartphone maker Samsung Electronics Co. with 5.9 trillion won.Hyundai Motor Co. ranked third at 4.5 trillion won, trailed by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. with 3.1 trillion won and Hyundai Steel Co. with 2.8 trillion won, according to the data.