GLP Japanese REIT Raises $532M to Complete Purchase of 7 Logistics Assets

GLP’s Japan-focused REIT has completed a global offering of newly issued investment units, raising JPY 55.6 billion ($532 million) to acquire seven Japanese warehouse properties and furthering a busy season in the country’s logistics market.

The portfolio of assets purchased by GLP Japan Real Estate Investment Trust, including six Greater Tokyo facilities and one Osaka-area warehouse, has a total leasable area of roughly 328,000 square metres (3.5 million square feet), GLP announced in a release.

The Singapore-based investment manager said the offering concluded on 7 December and the portfolio acquisition was completed on 11 December.

Strong Market Fundamentals

“We are believers in the long-term potential of the Japanese logistics market and continue to see strong fundamentals which are driven by domestic consumption-led growth, e-commerce and supply chain modernisation,” said GLP Japan president Yoshiyuki Chosa.

The seven-property portfolio is GLP J-REIT’s biggest acquisition since its IPO in 2012 and places it among the largest logistics trusts listed in Japan with a JPY 741.1 billion portfolio, GLP said.

GLP J-REIT’s assets under management have grown by about 14 percent annually over the last five years, supported by $4 billion in asset acquisitions from private funds managed by GLP, the largest developer of logistics real estate in Japan and Asia-wide.

“This offering represents another significant milestone for GLP J-REIT,” said Yoshiyuki Miura, president of GLP Japan Advisors, the trust’s asset manager. “In 2020 GLP J-REIT raised approximately $737 million of capital and focused on executing our expansion and growth strategies to strengthen its position as a market leader in the J-REIT market.”

Rolling a Seven

In its announcement, GLP described the seven acquired properties as modern, well-located and 100 percent occupied, with six of the properties having been developed by the company.

The top-valued asset acquired by the REIT was the remaining 60 percent co-ownership interest in GLP Yokohama, a 2005-vintage facility with access to Haneda Airport, Tomei Expressway and Yokohama Port. GLP J-REIT paid JPY 24.3 billion to an entity controlled by a GLP fund to take possession of the remaining stake in the facility, equivalent to 57,187 of the project’s total 95,312 square metres.

The portfolio’s other key assets include GLP Sayama Hidaka II, a 75,719 square metre facility suited for local deliveries to the western part of the Tokyo metropolitan area, acquired for JPY 21.6 billion; and GLP Urayasu II, a 47,192 square metre project situated 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) from central Tokyo, which it purchased for JPY 16.9 billion.

The lone non-Tokyo site, GLP Rokko III, is a 31,239 square metre facility serving Osaka and the Kobe Bay area. The REIT purchased the asset for JPY 8 billion, with all of the purchases being made from funds controlled by GLP.

Land of the Rising Shed

Recent months have seen a flurry of activity in Japan’s logistics market by GLP and others.

In August, GLP launched the JPY 280 billion GLP Japan Income Fund as a private open-ended vehicle, seeded with a set of 11 newly developed logistics assets in Greater Tokyo and Osaka.

In September, US-based LaSalle Investment Management sold JPY 48.5 billion in units for its Tokyo-listed LaSalle Logiport REIT, with the net proceeds being used to buy out partner stakes in logistics properties.

In November, Singapore’s Mapletree Investments announced its acquisition of a 116,319 square metre site near the city of Fukuoka on Kyushu island for development into two blocks of four-storey warehouse facilities.