Global Logistic Properties (GLP), owner of 55 million m2 of logistics space in Asia and the US, has chosen a consortium of Chinese private equity firms and the state-owned Bank of China to acquire the business for $11.6 bn (€10.1 bn).
The deal comes weeks after CIC, China's main sovereign wealth fund, acquired Logicor, Blackstone's European logistics platform, for €12.25 bn, and six months after Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC completed the €2.4 bn acquisition of P3, another European logistics specialist.
The three acquisitions may not end the Asian buying spree of logistics platforms. The latest edition of EuroProperty, the weekly publication of PropertyEU Group, reports that Asian investors including GIC, CIC and Mapletree are believed to be in the running for the acquisition of the European arm of Brookfield Property Partners’ logistics firm IDI Gazeley.
Singapore-listed GLP announced on 14 July that it had accepted the offer from the Chinese consortium, Nesta Investment Holdings, which was received in June this year. The proposed sale is the culmination of a strategic review GLP launched in December 2016.
If it goes ahead, the buyout will be one of the largest private equity deals ever to take place in Asia. Headed by GLP CEO Ming Mei, the Nesta consortium includes Bank of China, private equity firms Hopu and Hillhouse Capital Management, and residential developer Vanke.
GLP is the largest provider of modern logistics facilities in China, Japan, the US and Brazil. The US portion of the business stems from the acquisition by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC of IndCor, the former Blackstone logistics platform, for $8.1 bn in 2014.
The full GLP platform extends to 55 million m2 across 2,642 completed properties in 117 cities. Two-thirds of the logistics group's revenues come from China, thanks largely to e-commerce giants Amazon and Alibaba and JD.com of China. Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma is an investor in private equity consortium member Hillhouse.
GIC, the single largest shareholder in GLP with a 36.84% stake, supports the decision to sell to the consortium. GLP is likely to delist from the stock exchange on completion of the deal.
Gazeley
Back in Europe, Brookfield has appointed Morgan Stanley as well as CBRE to handle the sale of Gazeley's European platform and the first round of bids were due this past week, sources familiar with the process told EuroProperty.
European-based asset managers and institutional investors are also expected to be looking at the company: CBRE Global Investors, AEW Europe and CPPIB are names that have circulated.
With a price tag of around €1.7 bn, the deal would mark the third-largest this year in the booming European logistics sector after CIC's acquisition of Logicor.
In January this year, Singapore's GIC completed the purchase of P3, the pan-European owner, developer and manager of logistics properties, from TPG Real Estate and Ivanhoé Cambridge.
That deal, which valued the business at €2.4 bn, was first announced in November 2016, but had to be approved by EU regulators before it could be finalised.
