ESR Group Limited (ESR) is an Asia focused Real Estate services and investment company. It focuses on building and managing logistics properties such as warehouses and distribution centers. It is incorporated in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

but headquartered and listed in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. Due to its acquisition of ARA Asset Management in 2022, ESR has become one of the largest real estate investment management companies in the world. In 2022, the company was ranked by PERE (under Private Equity International) as the 4th largest Private Equity Real Estate firm based on total fundraising over the most recent five-year period.

History

ESR was formed in January 2016 as the result of a merger between e-Shang and the Redwood Group to form e-Shang Redwood which is better known as ESR. e-Shang was a

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

-based logistics platform that was co-founded by Shen Jinchu and Sun Dongping along with private equity firm,

Warburg Pincus Warburg Pincus LLC is a global private equity firm, headquartered in New York, with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil, China, Southeast Asia and India. Warburg has been a private equity investor since 1966. The firm currently has over ...

. The Redwood Group was a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

-based logistics platform founded in 2006 by Stuart Gibson and Charles de Portes who were former employees of Prologis. In November 2018, ESR acquired

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

based real estate investment manager, Propertylink for $522 million leading to its delisting from the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

in 2019. In June 2019, ESR announced an initial public offering by listing on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is repor ...

but postponed its plans due to poor market conditions. On 1 November 2019, ESR completed its initial listing where it raised US$1.6 billion. In August 2021, ESR announced it would acquire Singaporean Real Estate management firm, ARA Asset Management for US$5.2 billion. On 20 January 2022, ESR completed its acquisition of ARA Asset Management. This led to ESR having US$140 billion assets under management making it the third-largest listed real estate investment manager globally. The acquisition also included LOGOS, an Australian logistics real estate firm which was a subsidiary of ARA Asset Management.

Business overview

ESR has three main business lines. # Investments (direct

Real estate investing Real estate investing involves the purchase, management and sale or rental of real estate for profit. Someone who actively or passively invests in real estate is called a real estate entrepreneur or a real estate investor. Some investors actively ...

) # Fund Management (management of funds and investment vehicles related to properties including

REITs A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

) # Development (building and sale of logistics properties including land sourcing, design, construction and leasing) Most of the properties held in ESR's portfolio are Logistics Parks. As per the 2020 annual report of ESR, most of its top 10 tenants that it leases to are from the

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

sector such as

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

JD.com JD.com, Inc., also known as Jingdong (), internationally known as Joybuy and formerly called 360buy,

Coupang Coupang ( ko, 쿠팡) is a South Korean e-commerce company based in Seoul, South Korea, and incorporated in Delaware, United States. Founded in 2010 by Bom Kim, the company expanded to become the largest online marketplace in South Korea. It ...

and Softbank. ESR is headquartered in

and has additional offices in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Almost all its revenue comes from these regions.

References

External links

* https://www.esr.com/ (Company Website) {{DEFAULTSORT:ESR Group 2016 establishments in Hong Kong 2019 initial public offerings Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Real estate companies of Hong Kong Real estate investment trusts of Hong Kong