GLP, Asia’s No. 1 warehouse firm, chooses Chinese group for buyout: sources

Global Logistic Properties ( GLP) has picked a Chinese private equity consortium over a Warburg Pincus- led group for final talks to acquire Asia’s biggest warehouse operator.

GLP has a market value of about $ 9.2 billion and the deal will rank as the largest buyout in Asia by private equity firms, which are increasingly targeting bigger takeovers after raising record funds.

After months of negotiations, a special committee of GLP’s independent directors is aiming to fi nalize a deal this week with the Chinese consortium, which is led by Hopu Investment Management and Hillhouse Capital Group and backed by GLP CEO Ming Mei, the sources said.

GLP, which owns a $ 41 billion portfolio of industrial assets in China, Japan, Brazil and the US, is benefi ting from a boom in e- commerce that has fueled demand for modern logistics facilities. It counts Amazon and JD. com among its clients.

Concerns over the transparency of the sale process and business ties of the Chinese consortium forced some potential bidders to re- evaluate their interest, sources have said, making the auction a two- way race with Warburg Pincus and its logistics partner e- Shang Redwood.

Hopu’s founder Fang Fenglei, one of China’s best known dealmakers, is a GLP board member and Hopu partly owns GLP’s China business. It gets two- thirds of its revenue from China, where it has a dominant market position.