GLP Raises $1.3B for European Logistics Fund

Asia’s largest logistics developer and fund manager revealed a major expansion of its European platform this week by announcing a €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion) first close on a fund spanning nine countries on the continent.

GLP raised the cash for GLP Europe Income Partners II from a set of unnamed institutional investors, including partners new to the Singapore-headquartered firm, which has now added close to $9 billion in equity to its global fund portfolio this year.

“GLP Europe Income Partners II demonstrates the continuing strength of the European logistics market driven by consumption, e-commerce and supply chain modernization,” Nick Cook, president of GLP Europe said in a statement.

The dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic has helped fund managers such as GLP in their equity raising efforts as institutional investors turn to the once-niche sector as a source of stable returns in an increasingly shaky financial environment.

25 Assets and Growing

Having made its first big splash in Europe in 2017 by acquiring a $2.8 billion portfolio of Gazeley warehouses from Brookfield, GLP has seeded its new fund with a set of 25 distribution centres across the continent.

The new portfolio measures 1.9 million square metres (20.5 million square feet) with the warehouses averaging less than five years in age. The average weighted period to lease expiry of the properties is nearly seven years, according to the statement.

GLP’s team has leased nearly 100,000 square metres of space within the portfolio this year, bringing it to an average of 97 percent occupancy.

The company says that the GLP Europe Income Partners II will continue to acquire assets with an eye to providing returns for investors.

Serious About Euro Sheds

“Since entering the European market in 2017, GLP has tripled its assets under management and strategically expanded its presence to meet investor demand and support its disciplined growth strategy,” GLP managing director for fund management Ralf Wessel said.

Following this latest fund raising the company now has €9 billion in European assets under management. GLP has not specified when it expects to reach a final close on the venture.

While GLP has kept quiet about the backers for the new vehicle, the company’s first pair of European funds received support from Oxford Properties, the real estate division of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), as well as British Columbia’s Quadreal Property Group, the Korea Fire Officials Credit Union and Tesco Pension Investment of the UK.

Fund Follows February Acquisition

As with its first pair of European funds, which were launched in December 2017 after it acquired Brookfield’s Gazeley portfolio in October of that year, this week’s announcement comes just seven months after GLP acquired a set of facilities from a rival warehouse developer.

Mingtiandi reported in February that Gazeley, now part of GLP, had acquired 40 distribution centres in Europe from Australia’s Goodman for an unspecified sum. That 1.5 million square metre portfolio was said to be valued at around €1 billion.

In addition to its European moves, GLP has also achieved funding milestones in China and Japan this year, helping to push its assets under management to $89 billion globally.

In August the company announced the launch of GLP Japan Income Fund, a $2.6 billion private open-ended vehicle, which received $235 million in backing from Canada’s CPPIB.

That Japanese venture came just months after GLP launched China Income Fund I, a $2.1 billion core logistics fund iseeded with 34 assets in 18 cities across China.