Rava Partners, Charter Hall, Barings to Appear in Mingtiandi Logistics Forum This Week

After attracting more than 1,000 viewers in its first two sessions, the Mingtiandi APAC Logistics Forum continues this week with panels on Asia’s emerging markets and on Australia, featuring speakers from Rava Partners, Charter Hall and Barings along with other top real estate executives. 

The industry leaders will be taking part in a pair of panels, with a session at 10:00 AM Hong Kong time on Tuesday exploring strategies for emerging markets in India and Southeast Asia, while a Thursday discussion at the same hour will look at Australia opportunities.

The forum, which is sponsored by Yardi, takes place as foreign director investment into Vietnam jumped 51 percent in the first quarter of this year from the same period last year, while India saw 13 percent expansion in the same period thanks in part to continuing diversification of industrial supply chains in Asia. Readers can register to watch the panels free of charge at the link above.

Australia’s industrial real estate sector is also having a strong year with around $2.6 billion in transactions signed so far this year, which is up 38 percent from the same period in 2024, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Southeast Asia, India See Foreign Investment Leap

On Tuesday, Mingtiandi’s Michael Cole will speak with Priyank Shah, head of fund management for Rava’s Logicap division; Paul Lee, chief executive officer and managing partner with Northmod, the investment management division of logistics platform Equalbase and Ajay Sharma, managing director for valuation services with Colliers India.

The discussion will cover the India market after Logicap last month expanded its industrial partnership with Japan’s Mitsubishi Estate as part of a plan to develop a 13.5 million square foot (1.25 million square metre) pan-India portfolio.

Also on the agenda will be Vietnam, where industrial rent growth looks set to accelerate for both workshops and warehouses as more manufacturers expand in their activities in Southeast Asia’s fastest growing major economy.

Northmod’s Lee will be appearing just a few months after Singapore and Malaysia agreed to establish the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone in a moved expected to boost industrial investment around the border between the two southeast Asian nations.

Equalbase now has seven projects in Malaysia, according to its website, including a five million square foot project in Johor where the first phase is expected to open in the first quarter of next year.

Australia Takes Off

The Thursday session brings together Richard Stacker, chief executive for industrial and logistics with Charter Hall; Robert McMickan, joint managing director of Warburg Pincus-backed logistics specialist Hale Capital Partners; James King, senior director of portfolio management at Barings and Troy Bryant, founder and co-chief executive of Macquarie Asset Management-backed platform LogiSpace.

The panel takes place as global investment managers have made Aussie logistics one of their top targets this year, with heavyweights such as KKR, PGIM Real Estate, M&G and Morgan Stanley having all made commitments to the sector this year.

The panelists will cover some of the factors driving Australia’s surge in logistics investment this year, including falling interest rates, a maturing e-commerce sector and strong tenant demand.