Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC and Hong Kong-listed logistics property platform ESR have entered into a US$500m joint venture to invest in logistics properties in China.
The JV will focus on developing institutional-grade, state-of-the-art logistics facilities in key cities across China.
The two companies have worked together before, in a successful collaboration in Japan.
“As home to the world’s biggest e-commerce market, demand for logistics properties will continue to thrive in China as infrastructure such as modern warehousing will be a backbone of the new economy, serving the online and offline needs of retail businesses,” said Jeffrey Shen, co-founder and co-CEO of ESR.
In China, GIC acquired a 50% stake in a 42-storey grade A office building in Beijing’s Lize Financial Business District (LFBD) last November, giving it full ownership of the asset.
The sovereign wealth fund also partnered with data centre developer GDS to build and operate hyperscale build-to-suit data centers outside of Tier 1 cities in China in August last year.
GIC has also made major bets on the logistics market too. The Singaporean investor teamed up with Australian REIT Dexus to create a US$1.46bn unlisted trust to invest in Australian logistics real estate in November 2018.
ESR is a market leader in modern logistics real estate in China, managing 6.62m sq.m. of total gross floor area in China, totalling more than US$4.39bn, as of end-June 2019.
Listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, ESR has US$20.2bn in assets under management.
GIC is headquartered in Singapore, and has well over US$100bn in AUM.