E-Shang Redwood Rolls Out New Japanese Facility in Run-Up to IPO

Redwood, the Japan-centred branch of recently merge E-Shanghai Redwood, this week brought online its latest logistics facility as the Asia-based real estate fund manager continues to move towards an IPO.

Chibakita Distribution Center, a 39,000 square metre warehouse in Japan’s Chiba prefecture, close to Tokyo, is already 100 percent leased to Daiwa Co Ltd, and Redwood also announced the recent signing of a 5-year lease for 75,000 square metres of warehouse space at its Kawagoe Distribution Center in Saitama prefecture.

Redwood, which is already well-established in Japan, while continuing to expand its operations in China, merged with mainland logistics real estate startup e-Shang in January of this year, with the goal of achieving an IPO of well north of $1 billion within one year’s time.

Daiwa to Move into Chiba Facility August 2016

Daiwa will be moving into the Redwood-built four-storey build-to-suit logistics facility in August of this year, according to a statement from Redwood. The Chibakita Distribution Centre will add to e-Shang Redwood’s existing portfolio of over 2.2 million square metres of warehouse space, and the firm indicates that it has another two million square metres under development across China, Japan and South Korea.

In addition to the Chiba project, Redwood leased 36,000 square metres in its three-storey Kawagoe Distribution Center in Saitama Prefecture with new customer Asahi Logi Ltd. The five year deal with the third party logistics provider leaves Redwood still actively leasing just 16,600 square metres in the inland distribution hub.

E-Shang Redwood Searching for Aussie Opportunities

Since news of the e-Shang Redwood merger was first released in January, the two companies have kept signing leases and raising capital in preparation for their expected public listing, while also searching for acquisitions to further expand their portfolio.

At the end of January Dutch pension fund manager PGGM, which was already a Redwood investor, committed another $160 million to the Redwood China Logistics Fund just over one week after the fund’s parent firm merged with e-Shang.

During February, e-Shang Redwood reportedly entered into talks with Goodman Group to buy A$600 million ($461 million) in Australian logistics facilities from the Sydney-based industrial developer. Although those talks were later broken off, the company is said to still be looking at opportunities to expand into the Australian market, and was understood to be looking for ways to expand its portfolio in the run-up to an IPO.