Jack Nicklaus GC. /Courtesy of Jack Nicklaus GC website
This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 4:34 p.m. on Oct. 7, 2026.
POONGSAN Group considered acquiring Jack Nicklaus GC but is understood to have dropped the plan due to the burden of acquisition tax amounting to hundreds of billions of won. Starting this year, a punitive 12% acquisition tax rate applies when acquiring membership golf courses, increasing the burden. In the investment banking (IB) industry, there is an assessment that taxes are emerging as a key variable in golf course deals.
On the 7th, according to the IB industry, Poongsan recently reviewed the acquisition of Jack Nicklaus GC, which POSCO Group is pushing to sell, but ultimately decided not to participate in the bidding. The acquisition tax rate applied to the succession acquisition of membership golf courses rose from 4% to 12% starting this year, which is said to have had an impact. Previously, the punitive rate applied only when newly developing or expanding membership golf courses, but the revised Local Tax Act applies the punitive rate even when acquiring an existing membership golf course by succession.
In the market, the value of top-tier membership golf courses in the Seoul metropolitan area like Jack Nicklaus GC is discussed at up to 20 billion won per hole. Applying this simply to the 18-hole Jack Nicklaus GC puts the total value at about 360 billion won.
In membership golf courses, it is common for the acquirer to also assume the obligation to return membership deposit guarantees that must be repaid to existing members. At the time of the 2022 transaction, Jack Nicklaus GC carried about 235 billion won in membership deposit guarantee debt. Assuming simply that there has been no change in the deposit debt to date, the cash to be paid to the seller out of the total value of 360 billion won is calculated at about 125 billion won.
However, a burden is noted because, under current law, the obligation to return membership deposit guarantees can also be included in the acquisition price. The enforcement decree of the Local Tax Act includes the amount of debt assumed by agreement to acquire property in the de facto acquisition price. If the obligation to return membership deposit guarantees in effect constitutes consideration for acquiring the golf course, it is included in the tax base for acquisition tax.
For this reason, if the entire 360 billion won is simply calculated as the tax base, the acquisition tax applying this year’s 12% rate is about 43.2 billion won. This is about 35% of the cash assumed to be paid directly to the seller. If the previous 4% rate applied, the acquisition tax would be about 14.4 billion won, meaning the burden increased by about 28.8 billion won after the tax law revision.
In the IB industry, there is criticism that such tax changes are making mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of membership golf courses even more difficult. Because membership golf courses often also assume large obligations to return membership deposits, the acquisition tax burden can feel significant compared with the cash paid directly to the seller.
After an acquisition, membership golf courses also face a sizable holding tax burden. For land subject to separate registration, such as the course of a membership golf course, a 4% property tax applies. By contrast, land for public golf courses is subject to a 0.2% to 0.4% property tax, and general non-membership golf courses face a 0.2% to 0.5% property tax depending on land classification. Unlike membership courses, public and non-membership golf courses can be subject to the comprehensive real estate tax separately, but even taking that into account, there is analysis that taxes on membership golf courses are significantly higher than on public courses.
In fact, in the recent M&A market, listings of public golf courses are appearing one after another, while membership courses such as Woojeong Hills CC and Lexfield CC are mentioned as potential listings but are reportedly progressing more slowly in transactions.
An IB industry official said, “Because the tax burden at the acquisition stage has increased significantly for membership golf courses, it may become even harder to align price expectations between sellers and prospective buyers going forward.”
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