GLP plans China warehouse expansion

Global Logistic Properties (GLP), the mainland's biggest modern warehouse operator, plans to increase space at new projects by up to 25 per cent annually in the next two years as e-commerce grows and retail chains expand.

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Published: 12:00am, 10 Oct 2013Updated: 4:00am, 10 Oct 2013

Global Logistic Properties (GLP), the mainland's biggest modern warehouse operator, plans to increase space at new projects by up to 25 per cent annually in the next two years as e-commerce grows and retail chains expand.

The company, part-owned by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, is beginning construction of 2.5 million square metres of warehouse space in China this year, compared with two million square metres a year earlier, chief executive and co-founder Ming Mei said yesterday.

The company has a current portfolio of about eight million square metres in China.

Logistics properties are "the most attractive real estate opportunity" in China as consumers buy more from e-commerce companies including Alibaba Group and Amazon.com fuelling demand for storage space, according to a report released last month by commercial property brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle.

Singapore-listed GLP, which operates in at least 37 Chinese cities, expects business to also be driven by the expansion of chain stores such as AS Watson.

"E-commerce is just one sector of growth," Mei said. "At the moment, not only overall retail is growing, but the percentage of organised retail is also growing. And they're the ones that drive our business."