[단독] In 800 million land that will receive 9 billion won a year… Inguk-gong’strange triangular contract’

On the afternoon of the 17th, the BMW Driving Center near Sky72 Golf Course in Yeongjongdo, Incheon. A few days ago, it snowed a lot, but various BMW cars ran fast on the driving track that was neatly removed.

It is a kind of automobile theme park with a driving track, an off-road course, an automobile exhibition hall, a museum, and an event hall on a vast land of 33 soccer fields (240,000 square meters). It is a popular attraction among BMW enthusiasts. Admission is free, but the driving experience requires a maximum of 2 million won (8 hours) per day. BMW Korea, which opened in 2014, has been introduced as a representative example of its social contribution activities. BMW Korea Chairman Kim Hyo-joon said at every media interview that his greatest achievement was to invest 77 billion won to create a driving center.

BMW Korea is using this site with a publicly announced land of 90 billion won, but Incheon International Airport Corporation, the owner of the land, receives only the amount of ownership tax on the land as rent for the land. They are not properly paying rental income.

Originally, this land is part of the land borrowed from Incheon Airport Corporation by Sky72, which has the largest profit among domestic golf courses (net profit of 14.1 billion won in 2019). Since it is a waste land next to the golf course and is a’landscape improvement district’, Sky72 must spend his own money to improve the landscape. However, it was connected to BMW Korea, which was looking for the driving center site, and as a result, the landscape was’improved’ with the driving center. The concession agreement for the additional development project of the landscape improvement site is separate from the Sky72 Golf Course contract.

Two major contracts were signed in 2012 in the process of converting a site designated as a landscape improvement district into a private’profit facility’. First of all, Incheon Airport Corporation, the owner of the land, accepted Sky72’s proposal to develop the landscape improvement district as a BMW automobile complex cultural space and signed a concession agreement with Sky72. In addition, Sky72 signed a lease agreement with BMW Korea based on this concession agreement.

An official from Incheon Airport Corporation, who requested anonymity, said, “Apparently each contract, but the contract between Incheon Airport Corporation and Sky72 was made on the premise that the German company BMW invested 77 billion won in the land of Incheon Airport Corporation. “This is actually a three-party contract because it guaranteed BMW Korea the right to use the driving center until 2025.” In fact, the city of Incheon and Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority are citing this contract as a successful case of attracting large amounts of foreign capital to Yeongjong Island.

The land owner, Incheon Airport Corporation, set a new land rental fee for the land that was converted into a driving center. Sky72 is a land rental fee, which is the largest of 5% of the total sales of the driving center and land-related taxes (holding tax), which is paid to Incheon Airport Corporation. It is paying only the increase) and not receiving any other rent.

The guidelines for land rent are the lowest in the State Property Act, where 5% or more of the published land price is the lowest, and in the Incheon Airport Corporation asset management regulations, 10% or more of the publicly announced land price is the lowest. However, depending on the location and use of the land, the rent may be adjusted at the discretion of the president of Incheon Airport Corporation. The rental fee for the distribution complex near the driving center is 10% of the official land price, and the rental fee for Sky72 Golf Course is 4% of the official land price. An official from Incheon Airport Corporation explained, “If you apply 10% of the official land price, you should receive 9 billion won per year as land rental, and if you apply 5%, you should receive 4.5 billion won.”

Although Incheon Airport Corporation operates Incheon Airport, its main source of income is the real estate rental business, and it is a group of real estate experts who make an operating profit of 1.288.6 billion won per year (2019). Since 2001, rental fees have been received through numerous real estate contracts, and the common story of IIAC employees is that such contracts for which IIAC cannot collect rental income are’all and nothing’.

An employee of Incheon Airport Corporation said, “At the time, Sky72 was continuing to be the number one in sales among golf courses in Korea, and the background is excellent accessibility within an hour from Seoul.” “Does it make sense to lend you?” he asked. Another employee of Incheon International Airport Corporation said, “There may be aspects that benefited from the fact that a global company called BMW invests, but it is a strange contract that is difficult to find origin.”

The fruit of this contract was enjoyed by Sky72 and BMW Korea. According to the contract between Sky72 and BMW obtained exclusively by this magazine and the electronic disclosure of the Financial Supervisory Service, Sky72, the site subsidiary, receives 1.25 billion won annually from BMW in the name of facility usage fees in addition to the principal and interest for the loan for the construction cost of the driving center. have. According to the electronic disclosure of the Financial Supervisory Service, Sky72 recorded this 1.25 billion won as annual rental income. Sky72 Public Relations Team Leader Park Sun-young said, “According to the policy of BMW Germany’s headquarters not to invest in Korean real estate, the Driving Center was borrowed 45 billion won from a domestic bank, and the usage fee of 1.25 billion won is due to bank loans. It is a kind of compensation for the possibility of a credit rating decline. However, this loan contract is evaluated as a transaction with little risk because the payment guarantee is provided by BMW Korea, which has a strong financial power.

Also, according to Sky72’s description, the source and usage of 77 billion won, which BMW Korea said to have invested in the development of Korean automobile culture, is also different from what has been known. First of all, there is no 1 won of money that came into Korea from the German headquarters to create a driving center. The construction cost was borrowed by Sky72 from a domestic bank, and BMW Korea repays the principal and interest on it every year with money earned in Korea. BMW Korea said, “Up to now, we have paid 28 billion won for the construction cost loan.” “There is no separate investment fund related to the driving center from Germany, but it is correct to see it as an investment because some of the proceeds from the German headquarters were spent on the driving center.” Insisted.

However, an official from Incheon International Airport Corporation said, “The construction cost that BMW is paying off every year is less than the normal land rent (4.5 billion to 9 billion won per year).” In fact, Mercedes-Benz Korea is paying about 2 billion won in annual rent on the condition that only part of the Everland driving track is used at its events in Yongin.

In addition, next to the driving center, there is a training academy of 5500㎥ for maintenance training of BMW employees and the only BMW maintenance center in Yeongjongdo. BMW Korea calculated the amount of money more than 10 billion won in maintenance centers as investment costs, but the training center is BMW’s own training facility, and the maintenance center is a profit facility.

Regarding social contribution activities, BMW Korea said, “We invite children from the islands to inform them about the principles of automobiles for free, and we are contributing to the development of the local economy by hiring local residents as employees.” However, the Kids Driving School, which is provided on the second floor for children, has not been operated since November 2018, and the 12,000m2 residents’ sports facility, which is open 365 days for local residents, has recently been changed to a parking lot.

The period of the concession agreement between Incheon Airport Corporation and Sky72 ended at the end of last year, and Sky72 and BMW Korea are taking it for granted to use it until 2025 through an extension contract. In fact, this is stated in the contract between Sky72 and BMW Korea. An official from Incheon International Airport Corporation said, “The official contract with Sky72 has ended at the end of 2020.” “Although the priority bargaining right was given to Sky72, IIAC will make a contract in a structure that can receive normal land rent. “If the negotiations with Sky72 are not satisfactory, we plan to regain legitimate rights through a lawsuit.” Sky72 is a corporation that has filed the most lawsuits with Incheon International Airport Corporation, and during the construction of Incheon International Airport Passenger Terminal 2, it filed a lawsuit over the construction of the access road and received 8 billion won from Incheon International Airport Corporation.

Reporter Ham Jong-sun [email protected]