The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is partnering with a subsidiary of ESR, a pan-Asian logistics real estate platform, to invest about $653 million in Korean logistics facilities.
Within the investment vehicle, which will focus on building a portfolio of premier facilities in strategic areas, Seoul-based Kendall Square Asset Management will identify new assets for acquisition. In a news release, the CPPIB called South Korea the most connected country in the world and emphasized that such real estate assets are an attractive opportunity as the global embrace of e-commerce widens.
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Initially, the venture will invest in a seed portfolio of six facilities, which are already managed by Kendall Square, with an aggregate gross floor area of 270,000 square metres. ESR first established its investment relationship with the CPPIB in 2015.
The move follows several other investments in logistics around the world by the CPPIB, including an acquisition, alongside the Alberta Investment Management Corp., of a U.S. industrial REIT, as well as investments in logistics in Brazil and Hong Kong in recent months.
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