M&G Teams With Local Investors to Buy Korean Shed From CBRE IM for $350M

M&G Real Estate has acquired a seven-storey warehouse in Greater Seoul from CBRE Investment Management under a joint venture valuing the property at KRW 512.3 billion ($350 million).

M&G will hold a 78.5 percent stake in Logisvalley Ansan alongside two domestic institutional investors, the Private School Teacher Pension Fund and the Korea Fire Officials Credit Union, the London-based firm said Monday in a release. The facility provides 240,000 square metres (2.5 million square feet) of space in Seoul’s surrounding Gyeonggi province.

M&G is making the investment through its $7 billion Asia Property Fund managed by Jason Leong. Wide Creek Asset Management, a frequent partner of foreign investors in Korean real estate, will manage the holding vehicle for Logisvalley Ansan, the Seoul-based company confirmed to Mingtiandi on Monday.

“This transaction reflects our confidence in South Korea’s logistics fundamentals and represents a natural extension of our investment footprint within the Seoul Metropolitan Area,” said Daniel Cho, head of Korea at M&G Real Estate. “The property’s advanced building specifications and strong tenant profile underpin its resilience and ability to deliver stable, long-term returns for our investors.”

Structural Shift

CBRE IM is understood to have put Logisvalley Ansan on the market in early 2025 after buying the shed from local builder Sunkyung E&C for an undisclosed amount in 2019, back when the US firm was doing business as CBRE Global Investors. The Korean Herald reported at the time that CBRE GI’s stake in the asset was valued at KRW 420 billion (then $353 million).

Situated in the Ansan submarket southwest of Seoul, the 2019-built warehouse is anchored by e-commerce giant Coupang and lifestyle retail brand LF. The property enjoys direct access to expressways connecting Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon, and features floor plates of 21,000 square metres and ceiling heights exceeding 10 metres (32.8 feet), according to M&G.

The acquisition values Logisvalley Ansan at KRW 2.1 million ($1,475) per square metre and comes amid what M&G dubs a “structural shift” in South Korea’s logistics sector as e-commerce growth and automation sustain new demand.

“Modern facilities remain in high demand, while new logistics completions are projected to decline by nearly 87 percent between 2023 and 2026,” the UK firm said. “Restrictions on new developments, including on building height and length, are reinforcing the scarcity value of modern, large-format industrial assets.”

M&G Asia Property Fund’s other logistics investments include a majority stake in ESR Ichikawa Distribution Centre in Japan’s Chiba prefecture and a half-stake in Ingleburn Logistics Park in Sydney under a partnership with Australian builder Stockland.

“With supply tightening across key markets, we focus on assets that are hard to replicate and essential to tenants’ operations,” said fund manager Leong.

Casting a Wide Net

Founded in 2019, Wide Creek continues to act as a key conduit for foreign investors navigating Korean property markets. The asset manager in September announced the acquisition of a greenfield site in Gyeonggi province for development of an 80-megawatt data centre in partnership with Warburg Pincus and DC Connects.

The project in Yongin City followed the acquisition of two warehouse assets by the Warburg-Wide Creek JV after it was set up in 2023 to focus on investments in “new economy” real estate sectors like logistics, data centres, life sciences and business parks in South Korea.

In November, ESR and Princeton Digital Group announced a new 48MW data centre in Incheon at a total investment of $700 million, with Wide Creek acting as the development partner on the project.