ESR Cayman Limited, the largest Asia-Pacific focused logistics real estate platform, today announced that it will acquire 100% of the share capital of ARA Asset Management for $5.2bn, which owns logistics and data center assets, via its subsidiary, LOGOS Group. LOGOS develops and manages these logistics and data center assets in Australia, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, South Korea, and New Zealand.
Presently, LOGOS has total assets under management (AUM) of $17bn, comprising 95.8+ million sqft (8.9+ million sqm) of property, either owned or under development, across 26 ventures.
Upon completion of the ARA Asset Management acquisition (Q4 2021 or Q1 2022), ESR Cayman will become the largest logistics and data center real estate platform in Asia-Pacific, with $50bn+ of assets under management (AUM).
Furthermore, ESR Cayman notes that it will have “dry powder” of $7bn to deploy into new logistics and data center projects.
Below we breakdown the data center assets that ESR Cayman and ARA Asset Management will own post-transaction.
ARA Asset Management – LOGOS Group – Data Centers
ESR Cayman’s acquisition of ARA Asset Management, and more precisely its subsidiary LOGOS, will accelerate the roll-out of the group’s data center strategy.
Announced Developments – ESR Cayman and LOGOS
ESR Cayman and ARA’s LOGOS subsidiary have announced three data center development projects to-date in Asia-Pacific. Specifically, these include ESR Cayman’s developments in Osaka, Japan (78 megawatts) and Hong Kong (40 megawatts). Additionally, LOGOS has a development project in Jakarta, Indonesia (20 megawatts).
In June 2021, LOGOS partnered with Pure Data Centres, a developer and operator of data centers which is backed by Oaktree Capital, to build the facility in Jakarta, Indonesia. Particularly, the hyperscale data center will comprise 20 megawatts of power capacity across 215k sqft (20k sqm). Presently, the building is under construction and will be ready for customer operation in Q1 2022.
Combined Pipeline
Overall, ESR Cayman and ARA’s LOGOS subsidiary have a combined pipeline of 1,200 megawatts of power capacity across Asia-Pacific. Specifically, this capacity includes India (300+ megawatts), Greater China (250+ megawatts), Singapore (160+ megawatts), Japan (150+ megawatts), South Korea (100+ megawatts), Malaysia (100+ megawatts), Indonesia (100+ megawatts), and Australia (40+ megawatts).
Management
LOGOS is led by John Marsh (co-CEO), Trent Iliffe (co-CEO), and Stephen Hawkins (Managing Director). These executives derive their prior experience from firms including Goodman, Australand, LaSalle, JLL, Colliers, and Ascendas.
Key Shareholders – ESR Cayman and ARA Asset Management
Below are the key shareholders of ESR Cayman and ARA Asset Management. Both companies have a number of similar connections, including through global private equity firm Warburg Pincus.
ESR Cayman
ESR Cayman was co-founded by its senior management team and private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Additionally, key existing shareholders of ESR Cayman include Oxford Properties / OMERS, JD.com, and APG (Dutch pension fund).
ARA Asset Management
ARA Asset Management’s key shareholders include Warburg Pincus (46%), Straits Real Estate (17%), co-founder John Lim (16%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (9%), Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings (6%), and CDPQ’s Ivanhoé Cambridge (5%).
Notably, Ivanhoé Cambridge has also been a long-term shareholder of LOGOS, investing significant capital in, and alongside, LOGOS in Asia-Pacific.
Transaction Advisors – ESR Cayman and ARA Asset Management
ESR Cayman’s financial advisor was Morgan Stanley. Additionally, ESR Cayman’s legal advisor was Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
ARA Asset Management’s financial advisors were Citigroup, DBS, and OCBC Bank. Additionally, ARA Asset Management’s legal advisor was Latham & Watkins.
