Warburg Pincus and Lendlease have bought a portfolio of industrial assets in Singapore for around S$1.6bn (€1.1bn) from entities associated with Blackstone and Lim Chap Huat, executive chairman of Soilbuild Group.
The acquisition of the 4.5m sqft portfolio by the joint venture’s LINO vehicle marks the first transaction for the platform which is seeded with two of Lendlease’s existing businesses – a life sciences project construction management business and a specialised investment management business – and logistics project in Japan.
Takashi Murata, MD, co-head of Asia real estate and head of Japan at Warburg Pincus, said: “The portfolio gives us immediate scale in the tightly held Singapore market, cementing our position as one of the top industrial asset owners in Singapore and reiterating our conviction in the life sciences and R&D sector.”
Justin Gabbani, Lendlease’s CEO investment management, said: “This strategic acquisition underscores our commitment to the rapidly expanding life sciences and R&D real estate market in Asia Pacific. The platform is well-positioned to capture opportunities in the sector.”
Under their joint venture agreement, each party is committed to 50% of the co-investment capital over the next few years as the new platform attracts third party investors and additional capital and seeks to grow into a multi-billion-dollar platform.
Peng Wei Tan, senior MD in real estate, Blackstone, said: “This has been a terrific investment where we privatised high-quality assets and positioned them for long-term success.
“It demonstrates how our high-conviction thematic investment approach, which focuses on global growth markets such as Singapore, consistently delivers for our investors.”
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