Singapore’s GLP shortlists at least 3 bidder groups

Bloomberg

Global Logistic Properties Ltd.
has shortlisted at least three groups in the bidding for the Singapore-based warehouse operator, people with knowledge of the matter said.
GLP invited a management-backed consortium that includes Chinese investment firms Hillhouse Capital Management and Hopu Investment Management to study detailed information on the business, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. The industrial property developer, which has a market value of $8.8 billion, also granted due diligence to Blackstone Group and a separate Warburg Pincus-led investor group, the people said.
Warburg Pincus is bidding together with its portfolio company E-Shang Redwood, known as ESR, according the people. GLP said in a Singapore exchange filing Monday that a special committee of independent directors was in discussions with “several parties” that will be invited to conduct due diligence. Purchasing GLP would allow an acquirer to take advantage of a boom in demand for warehouse space from e-commerce companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc. GLP said in December that it hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. to advise on a strategic review requested by its largest shareholder, sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte.
Shares of GLP fell 2.9 percent to S$2.66 at the close Tuesday in Singapore. Representatives for Blackstone, GLP, Hillhouse and Warburg Pincus declined to comment, while officials at Hopu didn’t immediately answer phone calls seeking comment. A person who answered the phone at ESR’s Singapore office said nobody was immediately available to comment.