GLP, CIC spend $1.6 billion on Japanese facilities

   The Singapore-based Global Logistics Properties and China Investment Corp. have announced plans to buy 15 logistics facilities in Japan from LaSalle Investment Management for roughly $1.6 billion.
   In total, the facilities will provide around 2.5 million-square-feet of space, more than 90 percent of which is in Osaka and the greater Tokyo area. All of the companies involved hail the move as a sign that the Japanese manufacturing and distribution markets are turning around after last year’s earthquake and tsunami.
   The purchase will also create a joint venture between GLP and CIC that is expected to be fully formed in early 2012. GLP is a subsidiary of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation while CIC is an investment fund affiliated with the Chinese government.
   GLP said that 67 percent of the properties in question are leased to large 3PLs and that ecommerce companies use roughly 13 percent of the space.
   “After this acquisition, our Japan portfolio will grow approximately 30 percent to 3.6 million-square-meters (38,750,000-square-feet), making our footprint almost 40 percent larger than our next largest competitor,” GLP CEO Ming Z Mei said.
   GLP announced a joint venture to develop logistics facilities in Japan alongside the Canada Pension Investment Board last September.