Singapore – Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd (“Mapletree”) is pleased to announce today that its private real estate fund, the Mapletree Industrial Fund (“MIF”), has completed its first closing at US$310 million with Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank’s AUB Pan Asian Industrial Fund as a cornerstone investor.
MIF is focused on investing primarily in manufacturing facilities, business parks, industrial parks, research and development facilities, IT and software parks, and industrial offices in various Asian countries. The key objective of MIF is to tap the shift in production and R&D processes to Asia by creating a diversified portfolio of good quality industrial real estate assets with a stable return profile.
Mr Hiew Yoon Khong, CEO of Mapletree, said: “We are very pleased with this first closing of MIF. We view it as a testament of investors’ confidence in Mapletree, which sponsored the highly successful Mapletree Logistics Trust (“MapletreeLog”). We plan to roll out more platforms as we continue our push towards becoming a leading real estate capital management group in Asia.”
Mr Phua Kok Kim, CEO of Mapletree Industrial Fund Management Pte Ltd (‘MIFM”), Mapletree’s wholly-owned subsidiary which manages MIF, said: “We are happy to have secured AUB Pan Asian Industrial Fund as MIF’s cornerstone investor. We believe MIF offers a good vehicle for investors interested in Asia’s solid growth potential.”
AUB is a leading banking institution in the Middle East. The bank has been awarded “Global Bank of the Year 2006 – Middle East” and “Bank of the Year 2006 – Bahrain” by The Banker magazine. It was also rated by Global Finance as the “Best Bank in the Middle East and Africa” for 2006 and awarded “Best Bank in Bahrain 2006” by Euromoney. Euromoney ranked AUB as “Best Local Private Bank in the Middle East” and the “Best Private Bank for Real Estate Investment in Bahrain”.
Mr. Phua added: “We are making good progress in our regional asset acquisitions and have built up a healthy deal pipeline. As the fund sponsor, Mapletree offers a relatively unique combination of strong real estate capabilities and business network augmented by our on-the-ground presence in a number of Asian countries in which MIF intends to invest. This enhances our ability to offer an integrated suite of services to vendors and tenants – from sale and leasebacks to build-to-suit – and in turn enable us to help the fund optimize returns.”
