APG-backed life sciences platform CBC HIP on track to hit $1.5bn hard-cap

Backed by Dutch pension fund manager APG Asset Management and Asia’s largest healthcare-dedicated investment firm CBC Group, CBC Healthcare Infrastructure Platform’s first China-focused life sciences venture is on track to hit its hard-cap of $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2023.

Having raised $500 million in its first close in November last year, PERE can reveal that CBC China Life Science Infrastructure Venture is set to hold its second close in the next three months. The vehicle is on track to reach a final close in the first quarter of 2023, according to a source involved in the fundraising.

It is understood that the firm will have deployed $400 million, or 80 percent of the capital raised in its first close, by October across three deals. These include two assets that the firm most recently acquired in July and August, respectively.

The first asset the firm acquired was a 119,000-square-meter life science park located at China Bio-medicine Park in Beijing. The property comprises eight manufacturing buildings, four R&D offices, and auxiliary facilities. It is 90 percent occupied with steadily growing cashflow, among which around 30 percent of the leases were signed with the effort of the platform ahead of closing.

The second project in the venture is a development of a 178,000-square-meter, world-class life science industrial park consisting of manufacturing facilities, R&D space and office in Beijing’s Zhongguancun Life Science Park. The project is expected to complete in Q4 2024.

Hans Kang, chief executive at CBC Healthcare Infrastructure Platform, told PERE that investors are “very confident” in life sciences real estate in China despite the disruption caused by the pandemic and the geopolitical situation. He believes that since the development of life sciences properties is a global mega-trend, investors are taking a long term view on the sector.

Apart from CBC HIP, Hong Kong-headquartered new economy real estate asset manager ESR and Warburg Pincus-backed Chinese industrial specialist DNE Group also entered the market this year. The former made its first investment in the sector with the acquisition of a life sciences R&D business park for 268 million yuan ($40 million; €39 million) in Shanghai. The latter formed a $1.2 billion joint venture with an Asian institutional investor to invest in the country’s life sciences parks.

Kang told PERE he is happy to see more players entering the space as it will capture more attention from investors. He said he thinks CBC HIP has a competitive edge of being backed by its parent company and healthcare specialist CBC Group. Under CBC Group, there is a team of life science specialists and related portfolio companies.

Since its inception in 2020, the Shanghai-headquartered firm has grown its team from five to 38 professionals. It also opened a new office in Beijing in June this year.