Logos Marsden Park in New South Wales
Industrial developer Logos has secured an additional equity commitment from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for their Australian logistics joint venture, with the Sydney-based builder saying the new cash will potentially expand the gross asset value of the JV portfolio to more than A$5 billion ($3.6 billion).
Logos and ADIA formed the Logos Australia Logistics Venture in 2014 to acquire and develop logistics assets Down Under. At present, LALV’s portfolio consists of nine large, multi-tenanted logistics estates with a total end value of A$3.7 billion, including a major stake in a site near Sydney Airport acquired in a deal announced last October.
The venture’s additional investment capacity increases Logos’s assets under management in Australia and New Zealand to more than A$14.3 billion, the Sydney-based company said Monday in a release.
“We are very pleased to extend our relationship with ADIA, following a very successful initial investment period,” said Sean Singh, head of funds management for Australia and New Zealand at Logos. “This has seen LALV deliver strong returns while building one of Australia’s highest-quality logistics portfolios, benefiting from Logos’s significant development pipeline and leveraging its tenant customer relationships in the Asia Pacific region.”
Swelling Land Bank
Now part of ESR after the Hong Kong-listed firm’s takeover of parent ARA Asset Management, Logos added 13.8 hectares (9.4 acres) to its burgeoning Sydney land bank when it led a consortium to buy the freehold site near the city’s airport from Qantas Airways for A$802 million.
Sean Singh, head of funds management for Australia and New Zealand at Logos
LALV teamed with local pension fund AustralianSuper to purchase the property in Mascot, New South Wales for development into a four-level logistics hub estimated to be worth A$2 billion upon completion.
The airport deal was announced just three months after the group, with backing from AustralianSuper, Canada’s Ivanhoe Cambridge, NSW Treasury Corporation and France’s AXA IM Alts, added 243 hectares to its portfolio by acquiring the Moorebank Logistics Park in Sydney for A$1.7 billion.
LALV’s portfolio has a weighted average lease expiry of 9.3 years and counts tenants including retailer Woolworths, courier DHL, transport firm Toll, drinks maker Asahi and fast-fashion giant H&M. Logos has 9.1 million square metres (close to 98 million square feet) of property owned and under development, with a total completed value in excess of A$27.1 billion.
Sovereign Fund Splashes Out
The latest commitment from ADIA to LALV provides significant capacity to acquire further development sites, including a number already in exclusive due diligence, Logos said Monday.
The $649 billion Abu Dhabian sovereign wealth fund has previously joined forces with industrial developers on Asia Pacific ventures, including $5.2 billion in China logistics initiatives with US warehouse titan Prologis.
In September 2020, ADIA was revealed as the largest backer of Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners’ mainland China-focused data centre platform launched in 2019.
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