Thai Tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s Frasers Logistics Buys Properties For $414 Million…

Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust (FLCT), a real estate company controlled by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, agreed to buy six warehouse properties across Europe for S$548.7 million ($414 million) as the company seeks to benefit from increased demand for storage amid an e-commerce boom.

The acquisition, which is expected to be completed next month, will be funded partly by the S$335.8 million the company raised from the sale of 240 million shares at S$1.399 apiece in a private placement, FLCT said in filing to the Singapore Exchange on Tuesday. The rest of the consideration for the properties spread across Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. will be financed by borrowings.

“The proposed acquisition is positioned to capitalize on strong logistics industry tailwinds,” FLCT said in a statement. “The U.K. and Germany are the two largest e-commerce markets in Europe and among the top ten globally.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has boosted demand for e-commerce as consumers turned to online shopping and food deliveries after governments resorted to lockdowns around the world to curb the spread of virus. This in turn bolstered demand for warehouse and logistics properties.

Of the six target properties, two are in the U.K. where e-commerce-driven industrial demand is expected to triple over the next four years to 92 million square feet (8.5 million square meters), FLCT said, citing estimates from London-based real estate broker Knight Frank. The company is buying the U.K. properties from British developer IM Properties.

With a total net lettable space of 61,213 square meters, the U.K. properties are about 97% occupied and strategically located in West Midlands and near Birmingham, the country’s second-largest city. Among the properties’ tenants are Hermes and BASF.

The four other target properties, which has a combined net lettable space of 62,115 square meters, is being bought by FLCT from its Singapore-based sponsor Frasers Property. The properties include three warehouses across Germany and another in the Netherlands.

Frasers Property, which had total assets of S$39.2 billion as March 2021, is also the sponsor of four other property trusts listed in Singapore and Thailand.

Sirivadhanabhakdi, 76, took control of Frasers Property following his successful takeover of Fraser & Neave in 2013. He is also the controlling shareholder of Chang beer maker Thai Beverages. The self-made billionaire was ranked Thailand’s second-richest person on the World’s Billionaires List published last month, with a net worth of $13.5 billion.