Equity International, the Chicago-based growth market real estate firm led by Sam Zell, has made a corporate investment in Asian logistics company, The Redwood Group.
Equity International first branched out to Asia in 2006, when it invested in Chinese housebuilder Xinyuan, but this next step sees the company take a financial interest in Singapore-based Redwood, helping it grow further across the Asia region. Tom Heneghan, chief executive officer of Equity International, called Redwood an ideal platform for his firm in Asia.
The investment by Equity International will boost Redwood’s capital base for “rapid, disciplined” investment into prime logistics and industrial locations with an emphasis on China and Japan, where the company manages the Redwood Japan and Redwood China Logistics funds backed by large global investors.
Explaining the rationale, the companies added that Redwood’s target markets currently are under-supplied in Class A assets sought out by multi-national tenants. That undersupply has led to pent-up demand for logistics space, helped also by economic growth in Asia and by the expansion of third-party logistics and e-commerce sectors.
Redwood was started in August 2006 by Charles de Portes and Stuart Gibson, who previously worked in senior roles with ProLogis, as well as several other firms.
In a joint statement, de Portes and Gibson, president and chief executive officer respectively, said: “This combination of resources and reach will accelerate the expansion of our Asia platform.” They also said it would help execute on a multi-billion dollar pipeline of prime development projects in the region.
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try to sign in again. If the problem persists, please email: 
