Mapletree Spends $3B Boosting Logistics Portfolio

Mapletree Investments acquires 1 million-square-foot warehouse near the Memphis International Airport

Mapletree Investments acquired 117 industrial assets spanning 22.3 million square feet of space across the U.S. in September, the second major portfolio purchased within months for a total of $3 billion between the two transactions. The portfolios, located in core logistics hubs, totaled 141 assets across 28.4 million square feet of space and boosted Mapletree’s overall U.S. industrial holdings to 355 facilities valued at nearly $7 billion in assets under management.

The latest acquisitions, combined with assets under Mapletree US & EU Logistics Private Trust, or MUSEL, push the total U.S. logistics properties under management to 70 million square feet. Mapletree’s newest holdings propelled the Singapore-based firm into the top 10 managers of logistics real estate in the U.S. The acquisitions also bring Mapletree’s global logistics assets under management to approximately $18.8 billion.

READ ALSO: Intel’s $20B Project Moves Forward

The assets in the two portfolios will be combined with 14 logistics facilities Mapletree already owned to seed a fourth U.S.-focused private fund with a total of 155 assets. Michael Smith, regional chief executive officer of Europe and USA, said in a prepared statement the combination of assets created sufficient scale and investor interest for a fourth fund.

Smith said the U.S. logistics sector is among the best performing and most resilient of all of the real estate markets in which Mapletree operates globally. Mapletree now has 224 million square feet of logistics assets under management in the U.S., Singapore, Australia, China, Europe, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam.

Portfolio details

Mapletree said the portfolios acquired in September and July have assets that are strategically located along key transportation nodes, providing excellent connectivity to highways, air and seaports. They are also located in close proximity to major population centers. The portfolios’ tenants were described as diversified and include companies in third-party logistics, consumer goods, wholesale and e-commerce.

The portfolio purchased in September is the larger of the two. It comprises 117 assets spanning 22.3 million square feet of space across Greater Chicago, the Carolinas, Houston, Washington, D.C./Baltimore and Memphis, Tenn. The portfolio is 94.1 percent occupied and has a weighted average lease expiration of 4.1 years.

The July portfolio transaction comprises 24 assets totaling 6.1 million square feet of space across Greater Chicago, Dallas, Memphis, Boston and Central Florida. It has an occupancy rate of 98.9 percent and a weighted average lease expiration of 3.3 years.

Data deals

Mapletree has also been scaling up its data center holdings in the U.S. in recent months. In May, Mapletree Industrial Trust agreed to purchase the 29-property data center portfolio owned by Sila Realty Trust Inc. for $1.32 billion. The portfolio totals 3.3 million square feet across 18 states. The deal includes the first data centers for Mapletree in Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston.

Mapletree Industrial Trust announced in September 2020 it was buying a Virginia facility for at least $204 million. That deal followed the $211 million acquisition of the remaining 60 percent interest it did not already own in a collection of 14 U.S. data centers from seller Mapletree Redwood Data Centre Trust, an entity jointly formed by Mapletree Industrial Trust and its sponsor, Mapletree Investments.