Canada pension funds to invest in Singapore, Indonesia warehouses

[SINGAPORE] Canada's two biggest pension funds have agreed to partner with Logos, a real estate logistics operator, to invest in warehouses in Singapore and Indonesia, betting on demand from the rise of e-commerce and a burgeoning middle class in southeast Asia.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the top pension fund of the country, said in a statement it will initially commit S$200 million for an about 48 per cent stake in Logos Singapore Logistics Venture. It will also commit US$100 million for a stake of about 48 per cent in Logos Indonesia Logistics Venture.

CPPIB and Ivanhoé Cambridge, which is the real estate arm of Canada's second-largest pension fund manager Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, will be equal partners in both joint ventures, the statement said.

Logos, which operates in Australia, China, Indonesia and Singapore, will hold the remaining stake in the ventures.

CPPIB said the deals would pave the way for its first direct real estate investments in Singapore and Indonesia.

Private equity firms and institutional investors are pouring billions of dollars into warehousing and logistics investments in Asia in recent years betting on a boom in demand from e-commerce in the region.

Warburg Pincus, Blackstone Group LP and Hopu Investments were among bidders short-listed to present a potential offer for Singapore-listed Global Logistic Properties, sources told Reuters late last month.

And in January, Warburg Pincus-backed warehouse operator e-Shang Redwood agreed to buy an 80 per cent indirect stake in the manager of Singapore-listed Cambridge Industrial Trust (CIT).

REUTERS