Simpson Thacher is representing Blackstone in its announced acquisition of a majority stake in the Greater Bay Area’s largest urban logistics park for US$1.1 billion from R&F Group, expanding Blackstone’s China logistics portfolio by approximately one-third. Blackstone Real Estate’s opportunistic funds will acquire a 70% stake in the 1.2 million-square-meter logistics park located in Guangzhou, China.
The Greater Bay Area is a fast-growing metropolitan area comprising 11 cities including Shenzhen, Macau and Hong Kong. The logistics park is located 15km from Guangzhou International Airport and houses blue-chip tenants across sectors such as third-party logistics (SF Express, YTO Express), e-commerce (Tmall, JD.com), pharmaceuticals (Sinopharm, CR Pharma), and telecommunications (China Mobile, China Telecom).
The Simpson Thacher team includes Jonathan Hwang, Angela Li, Cynthia Mo and Jiang Zhao (Real Estate); Makiko Harunari, Rick Wei and Tianyu Ma (Credit); Meredith Jones and William Smolinski (Tax); and Jeanne Annarumma (ERISA).