A ”leading Asian sovereign wealth fund”, believed to be Singapore’s GIC, together with existing investors and a new investor, have committed US$750m (€644m) to the newly-launched ESR Japan Income Fund (JIF) at its initial close.
ESR declined to confirm the identity of investors in the logistics real estate fund.
But IPE Real Assets has learned from market sources that GIC, an existing investor with various ESR ventures in the Asia-Pacific region, and especially in Australia, has emerged as the cornerstone investor in the new fund.
ESR Cayman announced that JIF – which has selected to focus Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka – would acquire an initial US$2.1bn portfolio, with a target portfolio size of US$10bn by 2026.
Pierre-Alexandre Humblot, ESR managing director, fund management and capital, said ESR was transitioning the fund to one that had “a fully open-ended construct”.
The fund would be expected to come to the market for more capital perhaps once a year.
“Institutional investors are becoming increasingly aware of the extremely compelling long-term income potential of well-located urban logistics portfolios,” Humblot said.
The company said the seed portfolio for the fund consisted of four fully-leased assets developed by ESR-managed development vehicles.
These assets include a stake in ESR’s largest asset to date, the 388,570sqm ESR Amagasaki Distribution Centre in Osaka. The other seed assets included ESR Toda Distribution Centre and ESR Kawasaki Yako Distribution Centre in Greater Tokyo, and ESR Nanko Distribution Centre 1 in Osaka.
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