Tong Jinquan, who became well known as one of the largest individual S-REIT investors since the global financial crisis, is divesting his stake in ESR-LOGOS REIT’s (E-LOG) manager.
On July 27, after the market closed, ESR Group announced it has completed the acquisition of 654,546 shares in ESR-LOGOS Funds Management (S), E-LOG’s manager. ESR is also in the process of acquiring 189.97 million E-LOG units from Tong. According to an SGX filing, the 654,546 shares changed hands for $65 million.
Following the acquisition, ESR remains the largest shareholder with more than a 90% stake in the E-LOG Manager and will also become the largest unitholder of E-LOG with a 14.4% stake in the REIT.
After Tong’s divestment, he will retain 1% in the E-LOG manager, and 6.4% in E-LOG itself, (down from 10.5%). ESR will hold 91.3% of E-LOG’s manager, and Mitsui will own the remaining 7.7%.
“We are pleased to strengthen our commitment to E-LOG, a testament to the strategic merits behind the formation of this leading new economy, APAC-focused REIT post the merger earlier this year," says Jeffrey Perlman, chairman of ESR.
"As the sponsor of E-LOG, ESR Group remains focused on leveraging its robust pipeline of high-quality infill logistics assets to continue to build upon the REIT’s size and scale.
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"With this acquisition, we will continue to work to propel E-LOG towards an enhanced growth trajectory by accelerating its exposure to in-demand quality logistics and industrial properties while repositioning the portfolio quality by divesting non-core assets to continue to deliver long-term sustainable value to its unitholders."
