S’pore warehouse giant accepts US$11.6bil offer from China firm

SINGAPORE: Global Logistic Properties Ltd (GLP), the Singapore warehouse operator, accepted a S$16bil (US$11.6bil) takeover offer from a management-backed Chinese consortium that includes private equity firms Hillhouse Capital Management and Hopu Investment Management.

The group, which also includes founder Ming Mei’s SMG, Bank of China Group Investment and a unit of China Vanke Co, offered S$3.38 a share, GLP said in a statement to Singapore’s stock exchange.

That’s 25% more than GLP’s last-traded price on Wednesday before the shares were suspended, and exceeds the highest closing price since listing.

GLP’s largest shareholder, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd which owns about 37% of the company, has given an irrevocable undertaking to vote in favour of the offer, the statement said.

However, GIC said it could accept an unsolicited, higher bid that isn’t matched by the Chineseled group.

“In view of the premium paid and the low conditionality of the deal, any potential counter bidder will have their work cut out for them,” Justin Tang, a director of global special situations at Religare Capital Markets in Singapore said in an e-mail.

The deal will be the largest private equity buyout of an Asian company by enterprise value, surpassing last year’s takeover of Qihoo 360 Technology Co, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The winning group edged out a rival consortium led by Warburg Pincus, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

China Vanke shares were suspended in Hong Kong and Shenzhen trading earlier yesterday pending the announcement.

JPMorgan Chase & Co advised GLP on the sale.

Shares of GLP have surged 43% over the past year, giving it a market value of about S$12.7bil. It was the best performer on Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index, which gained 11%.

E-commerce companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc are driving a boom in demand for warehouse space in Asia.

The sales process, running since the start of the year, featured bidder complaints that the management group had an advantage from privileged access to information. — Bloomberg