Following the previous acquisition of five industrial parks, CapitaLand has once again laid out its presence in the new economy. On 12 October, CapitaLand announced that CapitaLand China Trust ("CLCT"), a subsidiary of CapitaLand Investments, intends to acquire a logistics asset package from an unaffiliated third party at a cost of RMB1,683.4 million. The asset package includes four prime logistics assets located in Shanghai, Kunshan, Wuhan and Chengdu. This means that CapitaLand China Trust is entering the Chinese logistics market for the first time. CapitaLand said the transaction is expected to close by the end of 2021. Upon completion of the acquisition, CapitaLand China Trust's assets under management will increase by 8% to S$4,729.2 million.
According to reports, the total construction area of the four logistics assets acquired in this acquisition is 265259 square meters, the occupancy rate as of August 31, 2021 is 96.3%, and the weighted average lease period is 2.1 years. Three of the projects were completed between 2016 and 2018 and another in 2010.
Chen Ziwei, chief executive of CapitaLand China Trust Management Limited, said that the market has strong demand for logistics assets driven by the accelerated growth of e-commerce. The continued good supply and demand situation and strong net absorption of China's logistics asset market will maintain the rental growth of high-quality logistics assets.
As CapitaLand's investment focus shifts to the new economy, industrial parks, logistics and data centres have been laid out. Upon completion of the acquisition, CapitaLand's new economy assets in China will be expanded to 9 industrial parks, 4 logistics properties and 1 data centre.
CapitaLand Investments China Chief Executive Officer Pan Zixiang said that following the first data centre, the acquisition adds CapitaLand's first logistics asset package in China. CapitaLand's layout of new economy industries can continue to expand the scale of assets under management. (Reporter Liu Zhuolan)