Logos Launches $371M Malaysian Project in Southeast Asia Expansion

Warehouse developer and fund manager Logos continues to expand its footprint in Southeast Asia, with an announcement this past week revealing that the company has agreed to begin building one of Malaysia’s largest distribution centres.

The ARA Asset Management-controlled firm has agreed to a joint venture with local partner Global Vision Logistics Sdn Bhd to develop a RM 1.5 billion ($371 million) logistics complex on a site in Malaysia’s Klang valley, according to an announcement to the Singapore stock exchange by a Global Vision shareholder.

Logo’s initial project in Malaysia was announced less than three weeks after the company had formalised a $200 million Indonesian joint venture with Canada’s CPPIB to expand its holdings in Southeast Asia’s most populous nation. In October, Logos acquired a project in northern Vietnam as part of a $350 million joint venture in that fast-growing market.

Regional Player Takes 60% Stake

The site for Logos’ upcoming project is a 71 acre (28.7 hectare) piece of land in section 16 of the Shah Alam area of Malaysia’s Selangor state. The plot sits close to the Federal Highway connecting Kuala Lumpur with Port Klang around 27 kilometres (16.7 miles) west of the Malaysian capital.

“We are pleased to have Logos as a partner for the project,” said Dato’ Murly Manokharan, president and chief executive of Penang’s Aspen Group, which owns 30 percent of Global Vision.

Murly added that, “The logistics and warehousing industry is one of the fastest growing industries due to the rise in demand from the e-commerce business. With Logos’ experience and track record, we are confident of developing a world class facility and of attracting a good tenant mix”

The partners plan to develop a multi-storey logistics hub on the site which will span 505,000 square metres (5.43 million square feet) of gross leasable area when all phases are complete.

Logos will take a 60 percent stake in the joint venture, with Aspen Group owning 12 percent of the combined entity upon completion of the transaction. The investment by Logos was brokered by Knight Frank Malaysia, according to a statement by the company.

Designing to Be Drone-Ready

The distribution centre will involve five separate warehouse blocks, and is planned as an environmentally friendly facility intended to meet Singapore’s Green Mark standards for sustainable buildings.

In comments to Malaysia’s New Straits Times, Knight Frank executive director Allan Sim indicated that the final phases of the project are expected to be completed within six to seven years, with the first elements to be ready for use within three years.

Beyond simply saving energy, Logos’ first Malaysian project will also include such future-ready elements as charging facilities for electric vehicles and a drone landing pad.

Building a Southeast Asia Presence

Logos steps into Malaysia around four and a half years after it entered the Southeast Asian market by setting up in Singapore in 2016.

By 2017, the company founded by Aussie partners John Marsh and Trent Iliffe had already begun preparing a presence in Indonesia through an earlier joint venture with CPPIB and Quebec real estate fund manager Ivanhoe Cambridge.

In its latest Indonesian initiative, Logos plans to work with CPPIB to develop new warehouses in the Greater Jakarta area to support the growth of online shopping, the partners said when they announced their investment earlier this month.

The warehouse builder formally announced its expansion into Vietnam in August last year, where it is working with an unnamed institutional investor to develop a portfolio of warehouses near Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, as well as in the Greater Danang area.