To Capture Logistics Real Estate Opportunities in South Korea
Warburg Pincus, the oldest private equity firm and a leading global growth investor, today announced that, through its Warburg Pincus Asia Real Estate Fund (“WPARE”), it will establish a logistics and industrial real estate joint venture - QUBE Industrial with MQ Logistics (“MQ”), one of South Korea’s leading domestic third-party logistics (3PL) operators and warehouse developers. QUBE Industrial will focus on investing in modern logistics warehouses and industrial real estate to capture the attractive opportunities in new economy real estate in South Korea.
Andrew Kim, Founder and Chairman of MQ, is a business veteran and first-generation warehouse developer in South Korea with a proven track record of developing multiple institutional quality warehouses in the past two decades, long before modern warehouses became a key real estate sector in South Korea. As the Chairman of QUBE Industrial, Mr. Kim will continue to utilize his deep network and actively source attractive deals for the venture. Additionally, James Lim, a seasoned finance professional and experienced platform builder, has been appointed as the CEO of QUBE Industrial.
Leveraging the unparalleled sector expertise and deep market experience of both founding parties, QUBE Industrial aims to assemble a best-in-class logistics and industrial real estate portfolio in South Korea. The venture is seeded with 4 institutional quality modern logistics warehouses located in prime sub-markets of Greater Seoul Area, comprising a diverse mix of stabilized, under construction and development assets, with a total GFA of more than 300,000 square meters.
Warburg Pincus has been investing in Asia real estate companies and platforms for over 15 years. lt is one of the largest and most active investors in Asia real estate, with over US$8 billion invested in more than 70 real estate ventures, including some leading platforms that Warburg Pincus co-founded alongside best-in-class entrepreneurs such as ESR, Vincom Retail, BW Industrial, Princeton Digital Group, DNE, and StorHub. In Asia’s industrial real estate space, Warburg Pincus has been actively involved in building meaningful depth with close to 10 highly specialized ventures in the region over the past 15 years.
Li Fan, Managing Director at Warburg Pincus, said, “With several megatrends driving the continued demand for modern logistics warehouses from e-commerce and 3PL players, and attractive momentum as a result of supply and demand dynamics of institutional quality warehouses in key markets like Seoul and Busan, South Korea is rapidly becoming a meaningful market for both domestic and international institutional investors in industrial real estate. We are very excited to collaborate with Andrew, a seasoned business veteran, and the high-caliber management team to capture the tremendous opportunities in the years to come. We will leverage our in-depth expertise and extensive experience to support the venture going forward.”
As a leading 3PL operator and warehouse developer in South Korea, MQ manages a vertically integrated and self-funded warehouse development business and has had nearly 20 development projects over the past two decades with around US$2 billion of assets under management spanning more than 1.4 million square meters in prime sub-markets of Greater Seoul and Busan.
Andrew Kim, Founder and Chairman of MQ and QUBE Industrial, commented, “We are excited to partner with Warburg Pincus to build a leading logistics and industrial real estate portfolio in South Korea. As one of the most established institutional investors, Warburg Pincus has a proven track record of supporting multiple successful real estate businesses in Asia. With the highly experienced teams from both parties, we believe QUBE Industrial is well-positioned to meaningfully accelerate growth and meet the evolving needs of both high-quality tenants and institutional investors in South Korea.”