Carlyle, Townsend commit $200m to China warehousing platform

As part of the deal, Shanghai Yupei, a local warehouse developer, will also invest $200 million to be used for land acquisitions and construction.

The 17 warehouses will be located in major logistics hubs across China, including Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou, and second-tier cities such as Shenyang, Tianjin, Chongqing, Zhengzhou and Hefei. The strategic platform is expected to own and operate a nationwide logistics warehouse network with more than 1.8 million square meters of gross floor area.

The investment will come from the Carlyle Asia Real Estate Fund (CARE), which has so far made 15 investments in China together worth approximately $3.1 billion.

"Modern logistics is a nascent but fast-growing industry in China, supported by strong growth in domestic consumption, exponential expansion of e-commerce and favorable government policies," said Jason Lee, managing director and head of Carlyle Asia Real Estate.

Since 2002, Yupei has developed 10 warehouses with total gross floor area above 700,000 square meters.

China's broad logistics industry has drawn considerable interest from private equity investors.

Last week, Cathay Capital Private Equity agreed to invest RMB120 million ($19.6 million) in Chinese refrigerated transport company Shanghai Zhengming Modern Logistics (ZM Logistics). Meanwhile, a consortium comprising CITIC Capital, Suzhou-based Oriza Holdings and China Merchants Group recently bought a 25% stake in domestic courier SF Express.

As of the end of June, Carlyle had $180 billion in assets under management across 118 funds and 81 fund-of-funds. Based in Hong Kong, Shanhai, Singapore and Tokyo, CARE has committed about $2.2 billion in Asia.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Real estate
• China
• The Carlyle Group
• Growth capital
• Logistics
• Real estate