Dutch pension investor APG has backed ESR Cayman in launching the ESR China Development Platform (ECDP), with an initial equity commitment of $1bn (鈧�848m).
The partners are committed to a potential investment capacity of up to $4bn for the platform which focuses on developing and owning logistics facilities in major logistics hubs across Tier 1 and Tier 1.5 Chinese cities.
鈥淭he China logistics sector continues to be a critical part of the China growth story,鈥� said Graeme Torre, APG鈥檚 head of real estate Asia-Pacific.
鈥淲e believe that building new assets designed to meet environmental standards and ever-changing occupier demand is one of the better ways to create a resilient portfolio for long-term performance.
鈥淭o do this, it is essential to have development partners that offer first-class sourcing and execution capabilities, which is why we have embarked on our second China-focused platform with ESR鈥�.
APG established what was then known as E-Shang Star with ESR in 2013.
Since then, it has supported ESR through half a dozen platforms in China, Korea and Japan.
Jeffrey Shen and Stuart Gibson, co-founders and co-CEOs of ESR, said: 鈥淐apital partner support has been key to the growth of ESR鈥檚 new economy real estate platform.
鈥淭he acceleration of e-commerce continues to drive growth in China鈥檚 logistics market. What鈥檚 more, structural shifts in supply chain management and consumers鈥� shopping habits and lifestyle changes are reshaping the market.鈥�
They said these trends were opening new development and investment opportunities to ESR and its capital partners as demand for advanced, large-scale and well-located logistics assets became even greater.
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