OKH Global to develop logistics and warehouse facilities in China with Ping An unit

PROPERTY developer OKH Global is tying up with Ping An Industrial and Logistics to develop logistics and warehousing facilities in China, it said on Thursday.

A memorandum of understanding has been inked, and more details will be released later. A joint venture company is expected to be set up by the second half of the year, OKH Global said.

Ping An Industrial and Logistics is a subsidiary of the Ping An Group, one of China's five largest insurers.

"Ping An has the asset base. They have lots of warehouses and land across the whole of China that we can leverage on," OKH Global chief executive officer Lock Wai Han told The Business Times.

OKH Global's non-executive chairman Celine Tang helped arrange the partnership, Mr Lock said. Mrs Tang is the wife of Chinese tycoon Gordon Tang and the managing director of Haiyi Holdings. Haiyi Holdings became OKH Global's controlling shareholder in 2016 after recapitalising the business.

Under the agreement, OKH Global and its associated company, Pan Asia Logistics Investments Holdings will provide design, development, build-to-suit, leasing and asset management expertise, as well as a network of tenants in Singapore looking to expand into China.

Ping An Industrial and Logistics can offer asset management expertise as well as construction development financing, and trade finance to tenants.

"We are already in the process of identifying specific projects which would happen over the next half a year," said Mr Lock. Cities in China's south and south-west have been identified, he added.

The counter closed unchanged at 3.7 Singapore cents on Thursday before the announcement was made.