Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC has entered into a joint venture deal with global real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson to acquire and manage urban logistics properties in the UK.
The partnership also has the potential to expand into Ireland and Spain, according to an announcement Friday.
The JV will be seeded with a $220-million portfolio comprising 18 urban logistics assets in prime locations in the UK. The assets are currently wholly owned by Kennedy Wilson.
The JV will also seek additional last-mile urban distribution center investment opportunities, targeting total assets of up to $1 billion.
Kennedy Wilson will be responsible for the sourcing, acquisition and management of the assets. Kennedy Wilson will have a 20 per cent ownership and GIC will have an 80 per cent ownership in the JV.
The logistics sector continues to be a long-term area of focus for GIC, according to Lee Kok Sun, the sovereign wealth fund’s chief investment officer of real estate.
“We believe the urban logistics sub-market will benefit from positive fundamentals, due to increasing occupier demand driven by accelerating e-commerce adoption and changing supply chain management strategies,” Lee said.
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Kennedy Wilson President Mary Ricks said the firm has witnessed the rapid growth of urban logistics properties driven by strong demand from businesses looking to grow their distribution networks with limited supply of space across major cities in its target markets.
“Over the last five years, we have significantly grown our footprint in this asset class. We are thrilled to partner with a preeminent global long-term investor like GIC to further capitalize on the exciting opportunities in this sector and to build out a premier urban logistics portfolio,” Ricks said.
GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore’s foreign reserves. As a disciplined long-term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and infrastructure.
Headquartered in Singapore, GIC has investments in over 40 countries and employs over 1,700 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide. – BusinessNewsAsia.com