Brookfield Expands APAC Logistics Strategy with $588M New Zealand JV

Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management on Monday said it will expand its Asia Pacific logistics bets with a NZ$1 billion ($588 million) logistics joint venture in Hamilton, New Zealand.

The world’s second-largest real estate fund manager is tying up with Tainui Group Holdings, which manages investments on behalf of the Waikato Tainui indigenous group to expand the Ruakura Superhub in the city on New Zealand’s North Island, according to a statement by the two companies.

“We are honoured to partner with TGH to further activate the major logistics and industrial precinct within Ruakura Superhub, bringing global capital at scale and unparalleled expertise as one of the world’s most active real estate investors,” Brookfield co-head of Australia and New Zealand real estate Ruban Kaneshamoorthy said in the statement.

Brookfield and TGH are teaming up to boost development of the 30 hectare (74 acre) logistics project linking New Zealand’s two largest commercial ports, Auckland Port and Port of Tauranga as the country’s industrial real estate market experience some of the tightest vacancy levels globally, according to CBRE.

Four Asset Seed Portfolio

The joint venture will initially purchase four existing industrial/logistics properties at Ruakura Superhub on long-term ground leases with the goal of developing another 70 hectares of land at the intermodal logistics precinct for logistics use.

“Our decision to partner with Brookfield is built on our experience over many years of partnering to bring in external capital, skills and networks to help us accelerate growth,” TGH chair Hinerangi Raumati Tu’ua said. “Partnership is a proven strategy for TGH that has achieved success across a broad range of investments over the long term.”

Under the terms of the JV, all the Waikato Tainui group will retain ownership of the land with TGH to provide investment, property management and development services to the JV. The transaction is expected to close within this quarter.

Spanning 490 hectares, Ruakura Superhub is one of New Zealand’s largest mixed-use developments and includes commercial, retail and homes for approximately 4,500 families in addition to public amenities and industrial facilities.

Located four kilometres from central Hamilton the project is roughly equidistant from Auckland and Tauranga. Since its official opening in 2022, the Superhub has opened the first 12 hectares of its logistics hub, with the joint venture’s seed portfolio counting Kmart and third party logistics operator PBT Express, as well as cold chain shipping specialists Big Chill and Refrigafreighters among its tenants.

Sheds Down Under

Brookfield announced its New Zealand joint venture less than two months after selling an Australian logistics park to a Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Korea Investment Corporation-backed fund managed by local industrial specialist Gateway Capital for A$330 million.

Brookfield sold Connect Central in western Sydney to the Gateway fund just three months after opening the 69,000 square metre (742,710 square foot) complex, having achieved 75 percent occupancy in the project.

In New Zealand, Brookfield may also find a favourable logistics market with CBRE reporting earlier this year that industrial vacancy in Auckland averaged 1.6 percent. In Christchurch on the South Island vacancy stood at 1.7 percent, according to property consultancy.

Logistics now accounts for $26 billion of Brookfield’s property portfolio globally, with the company having more than $1 trillion of assets under management across renewable power and transition, infrastructure, private equity, real estate, and credit, according to the statement.