GLP to Be Sold for Record $11.6 Billion to Hillhouse, Hopu Group

(Bloomberg) -- Global Logistic Properties Ltd., the Singapore warehouse operator, will be sold for about S$16 billion ($11.6 billion) to a management-backed Chinese consortium that features private equity firms Hillhouse Capital Management and Hopu Investment Management.

The offer values the shares at S$3.38 each, GLP said in a statement to Singapore’s stock exchange. That’s 25 percent more than GLP’s last-traded price on Wednesday before the shares were suspended.

GLP’s largest shareholder, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte which owns about 37 percent of the company, has given an irrevocable undertaking to vote in favor of the offer, the statement said.

The deal will be the largest-ever private equity buyout of an Asian company by enterprise value, surpassing last year’s takeover of Qihoo 360 Technology Co., data compiled by Bloomberg show. The winning group, which also includes developer China Vanke Co., edged out a rival consortium led by Warburg Pincus, according to people with knowledge of the matter. GLP Chief Executive Officer Ming Mei fronted the offer.

Shares of GLP have surged 43 percent over the past year, giving it a market value of about S$12.7 billion ($9.2 billion). It was the best performer on Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index, which gained 11 percent. E-commerce companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc. are driving a boom in demand for warehouse space in Asia.

The sales process, running since the start of the year, featured bidder complaints that the management group had an advantage from privileged access to information.

In May, representatives of GIC called a GLP team managing the sale into their offices, according to people familiar with the matter. The Singaporean fund instructed the group to be more responsive to bidders’ questions and share information transparently in the auction, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions were confidential.

--With assistance from Sebastian Tong Chua Baizhen and Joyce Koh

To contact the reporter on this story: Pooja Thakur in Singapore at pthakur@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam at sbhaktavatsa@bloomberg.net, Paul Panckhurst, Peter Vercoe