Hong Kong-based ESR Cayman Ltd has listed South Korea’s first logistics real estate investment trust (REIT), which holds a US$1.3 billion portfolio of institutional grade logistics facilities located mainly in the Greater Seoul metropolitan area.
The ESR Kendall Square REIT is sponsored by ESR Kendall Square, a subsidiary of ESR, an asset manager that specialises in investing in logistics real estate.
The listing is a “testament to the strong portfolio of quality assets, investors and tenants that our team has built through the years”, according to Thomas Nam, chief executive officer of ESR Kendall Square.
“With the robust growth of e-commerce driven by a confluence of factors including the pandemic, public investors have shown a growing appetite for quality core assets that can generate stable, long-term returns,” he says in a statement on December 23, when the REIT was listed on the Korea Exchange.
Jeffrey Shen and Stuart Gibson, co-founders and co-chief executive officers of ESR, add that they are “very proud of what ESR has achieved in the Korean market”.
The company has “built a proven track record of robust growth across our public and private vehicles” and the duo “look forward to carrying this momentum into 2021 as we continue to strengthen our market presence and leadership position in Korea and the [Asia Pacific] region”.
ESR had $26 billion of assets under management as of end-June 2020.
