Goodman, CPPIB Double Size Of China JV

Australia’s Goodman Group and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have more than doubled their equity investment in a Chinese joint venture to $500 million, targeting growth in China’s logistics market, sister news service Reuters reported. The two parties formed a 80-20 joint venture with an initial commitment of around $180 million in 2009 to own and develop logistics assets in China. Canada Pension Plan now has committed a total of $400 million to the venture.

The joint venture has also signed a $100 million five-year loan facility with Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and ING Bank NV, Goodman said in a statement. Goodman, a developer of warehouse and industrial assets backed by sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp., told Reuters last month that it would invest $1.2 billion in China and Japan over the next 18 months.

Goodman said the additional capital in its joint venture with CPPIB should help to boost its investments in China tenfold to $3 billion over the next five years. “We are well positioned to take advantage of opportunities, having secured a number of well located land sites. This has grown our land bank to in excess of 2 million square metres,” Philip Pearce, managing director of Goodman Greater China, said.

(Eriko Amaha is a contractor for Reuters in Sydney.)