GLP Reaches Final Closing of 7th China Income Fund With $743M in Assets

GLP on Friday announced the final closing of the seventh fund in the warehouse specialist’s China income fund series with RMB 5.4 billion ($743 million) in assets under management, coming less than a month after the final closing of the sixth fund in the same series.

GLP China Income Fund VII is seeded with 13 stabilised assets from GLP’s balance sheet across key logistics hubs including Shanghai, Qingdao, Wuhan and Changsha, the developer said in a release. The total leasable area is 800,000 square metres (over 8.6 million square feet), and the properties serve clients in the e-commerce, logistics and retail sectors.

Investors in the onshore vehicle are new and existing partners that have previously participated in GLP’s RMB funds, including domestic insurance firms. The latest milestone brings the firm’s capital raising to more than $15 billion for its logistics funds globally over the past 12 months.

“GLP CIF VII is the second income fund in China’s onshore income fund series to close this quarter, which demonstrates the continued confidence our investors have in our ability to generate attractive returns,” said Teresa Zhuge, executive vice chairman of GLP China. “As the logistics sector is a fundamental pillar supporting economic growth, we continue to see strong investor demand and are able to accelerate asset monetisation and capital recycling to expand our investment in best-in-class logistics infrastructure.”

Core Income Generators

In line with the fund series, the latest vehicle’s portfolio comprises core income-generating properties to ensure strong and recurrent cash-flow generation, GLP said.

The predecessor fund, GLP CIF VI, is seeded with 20 stabilised modern logistics assets across 19 cities with a total leasable area of 2.13 million square metres.

Angela Zhao, co-president of logistics and industrial real estate at GLP China, said the country’s supply chains have displayed strong resilience despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the macro environment.

“We see new opportunities emerging from continued digitalisation and efficiency upgrades driven by retail businesses increasingly going online and e-commerce players sharpening their competitive edge,” Zhao said. “We remain committed to investing in and enhancing our facilities in China, supporting new economy sectors. Through sustainability focused smart park and carbon neutral technologies, we continue to strengthen our long-term partnerships with clients.”

On Fire With Fundraising

Earlier this week, GLP announced the first closing of the fourth fund in its China value-add series, with Dutch investment manager APG and other institutional partners having committed $1.2 billion in equity to the strategy.

GLP China Value-Add Partners IV is seeded with assets totalling 600,000 square metres (over 6.4 million square feet) of net leasable area across China’s key logistics hubs. The fund’s investment capacity of $2.6 billion will open up further opportunities, the company said, including from GLP’s acquisition pipeline.

In July, the firm revealed the creation of the GLP China Income Partners V offshore fund through a $5 billion recapitalisation of the portfolio developed within GLP China Logistics Fund I, marking a full exit of the latter vehicle.

Rated by ANREV as the top real estate fund manager in Asia Pacific, GLP has an extensive portfolio of logistics assets and land holdings in China, with gross floor area in excess of 49 million square metres and real estate AUM of $45 billion.