German insurance giant Allianz and Asia’s biggest warehouse operator are teaming up to invest $600 mln (€535 mln) in logistics across China and Japan in the latest 'scaleable partnership' GLP has struck.
The large-scale investment by Allianz Real Estate is made up of funds from several companies in the Allianz group. It will go into GLP’s fund for developing and investing in state-of-the-art assets such as warehouses with integrated technologies in the Asian region. In Japan, development will be concentrated on Tokyo and Osaka.
Rushabh Desai, Asia-Pacific CEO of Allianz Real Estate, said: ‘We continue to believe in the long-term fundamentals of the Asia-Pacific region. Logistics is a core part of our investment strategy and this opportunity will further diversify our portfolio.
'Our approach has been to build scalable relationships with best-in-class local operators in each of the markets and we are excited about partnering with GLP, a leading investment manager with deep operational expertise in the logistics sector across the region.’
Ming Mei, CEO of GLP, said: ‘We look forward to building our relationship with Allianz Real Estate across our markets. This partnership is a strong strategic fit, leveraging Allianz Real Estate’s reputation and history as an investment and asset manager for real estate and GLP’s investment expertise, operational excellence and global scale.’
China is undertaking a trans-continental infrastructure development project named the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Involving more than 150 countries, it aims to boost international trade by cutting transportation times. Critics claim China is using BRI, which was unveiled in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, to spread political influence abroad.
Allianz Real Estate (AUM €63.5 bn) currently has €3 bn invested in the Asia-Pacific region and more than €5.5 bn in logistics globally. The real estate fund platform of GLP (AUM €57 bn) comprises 73 million m2.
