Singapore – Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd (“Mapletree” or “the Group”) today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with the Hunnan district government of China. Under the MOU, Mapletree intends to develop an integrated logistics park on a land plot of more than 380mu (~253,300 square metres) in Hunnan New District, Shenyang.

On the significance of this MOU, Mr Hiew Yoon Khong, Mapletree’s Group Chief Executive Officer, said, “The proposed integrated logistics park will be Mapletree’s first in Shenyang. Besides providing high quality and modern logistics facilities to cater to our customers’ growing demand for space, the MOU is in line with our strategic pursuit to scale up in China. This MOU follows two other MOUs that were signed with the local governments of Zhengzhou and Tianjin Jinnan over the last few months. With this, we now have access to more than 633,300 square metres of land to develop into logistics facilities in China. Mapletree will continue to explore opportunities to secure land in good locations for logistics purposes and provide our customers with a wider network of logistics facilities across China.”

As China’s fifth largest city with a 5.5 million population, Shenyang – the capital city of Liaoning – is well positioned to grow its economy as well as its local consumption. In 2010, Shenyang’s gross domestic product rose 14.1% year-on-year to RMB 502 billion.

Mapletree currently owns and/or manages 11 logistics facilities in China, five of which comprise developments in Beijing, Tianjin, Yangshan and Wuxi. These five developments, with a total development cost in excess of S$300 million, together with the proposed integrated logistics parks in Shenyang, Tianjin and Zhengzhou, will form a potential pipeline for Mapletree Logistics Trust.