Mapletree Closes on $1.4B in Equity for US Logistics Trust

Singapore’s Mapletree Investments on Wednesday announced the $1.4 billion closing of a new US-focused private logistics fund seeded with 155 properties across 19 states.

The fully invested Mapletree US Logistics Private Trust has a net asset value of $3.3 billion after the Temasek-controlled fund manager spent $3 billion during the third quarter acquiring a pair of US warehouse portfolios totalling 141 assets. MUSLOG is targeting an internal rate of return of 12 percent, Mapletree said in a release.

Backed by a “well-diversified group of new and repeat investors”, including pension funds, insurance companies, investment companies, asset managers and family offices, the fund is Mapletree’s third private vehicle to close in 2021, boosting the firm’s private fundraising to a record high of $2.5 billion for the year.

“Driven by shifts in consumer behaviour towards e-commerce and supportive macro fundamentals, the US logistics sector is poised for continued strong growth,” said Mapletree group CEO Hiew Yoon Khong. “MUSLOG’s successful syndication demonstrates the confidence investors have in Mapletree’s fund management and operational capabilities, which are supported by the expertise of our local asset and property management teams.”

Exeter’s Exit

Mingtiandi reported in September that Mapletree had acquired at least one set of sheds for MUSLOG from funds managed by longtime US partner Exeter Property Group.

The wholly owned unit of state holding firm Temasek offered no specifics regarding the individual assets in the new fund. But images furnished by Mapletree in September revealed three of the warehouses as the Arlington Commerce Center near Dallas, Texas; the Morgan Lakes Commerce Center in Savannah, Georgia; and 3955 East Holmes Road in Memphis, Tennessee.

The July portfolio comprises 24 assets totalling 6.1 million square feet (566,709 square metres) of net lettable area across Dallas, Memphis, Greater Chicago, central Florida and Boston, Mapletree said. The properties are 98.6 percent occupied with a weighted average lease expiry of 3.3 years.

The September batch boasts 117 assets spanning 22.3 million square feet of NLA across Greater Chicago, the Carolinas, Memphis, Houston and the Washington-Baltimore corridor, with those properties 94.1 percent occupied and carrying a WALE of 4.1 years.

In all, the trust’s 155 properties encompass 30.7 million square feet of NLA and are 95 percent occupied by a tenant base that includes third-party logistics firms and end-users, Mapletree said.

“The US logistics sector is amongst the best performing and most resilient of all the real estate markets in which Mapletree operates globally,” Mapletree’s regional CEO for Europe and the US, Michael Smith, said in September.

Full-Strength Funds

The latest transactions bring Mapletree’s global logistics assets under management to $18 billion and its private fund AUM to $13.8 billion. In the US alone, the firm manages 355 logistics assets with an AUM of $6.9 billion, placing Mapletree among the top 10 managers of logistics real estate in the country.

In addition to MUSLOG, Mapletree this year closed on the €507 million ($600 million) Mapletree Europe Income Trust (MERIT) and the $552 million Mapletree US Income Commercial Trust (MUSIC).

MERIT was seeded with a portfolio of seven office properties in Britain and the European Union, representing a combined asset value of €1.2 billion. The trust’s 2.9 million square feet of NLA is spread across the second-tier cities of Manchester, Bristol, Aberdeen, Warsaw, Munich, Dublin and Utrecht.

MUSIC’s portfolio comprises five US office properties in markets including Oakland, California; Dallas, Texas; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. The assets span a total NLA of 3 million square feet and have a total value of $1.3 billion.