By Michael Patrini From Global Legal Chronicle

Walkers has acted as Cayman Islands counsel to Shanghai-based e-Shang Cayman Ltd and its private equity investor Warburg Pincus in connection with the all-stock merger with Singapore’s Redwood Group Asia, Pte. Ltd.

Two of the leading developers, owners and operators of logistics real estate in Asia, e-Shang Cayman Ltd (“e-Shang”) and the Redwood Group Asia, Pte. Ltd. (“Redwood”), announced today that the two companies have completed an all-stock merger. Upon completion of the merger, the combined group will be renamed e-Shang Redwood (“ESR”) and will represent one of the largest logistics real estate platforms in Asia with over 3.5 million square meters of projects owned and under development across China, Japan and South Korea, and capital and funds management offices in Hong Kong and Singapore.

On a combined basis, ESR will also immediately have (i) one of the largest development pipelines in each of its markets of operation (totaling approximately 8 million square meters), (ii) leading MNC tenants including Amazon, JD.com, 1haodian, H&M, Carrefour, DB Schenker, Daimler, Askul, and others and (iii) a well-diversified, blue-chip institutional capital partner base including but not limited to APG, PGGM, CPPIB, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

e-Shang, founded in 2011 by global private equity firm Warburg Pincus and two highly successful Chinese real estate entrepreneurs, develops institutional-quality warehouses in China and South Korea. Since its inception, e-Shang has grown rapidly and currently has over 2 million square meters of modern logistics warehouses in operation and under development that cater to third-party logistics providers, retailers and e-commerce companies in China. Today, e-Shang is the largest third-party landlord for the leading e-commerce companies as well as for cold-chain logistics, and it has emerged as one of the top owners of modern warehouses across China.

To fund its growth, e-Shang has previously raised capital from its co-founder Warburg Pincus and other world-class investors including Goldman Sachs, APG and CPPIB. In 2014, e-Shang entered the South Korean market, partnering with two experienced local entrepreneurs to build out Kendall Square Logistics Properties and currently has over 600,000 square meters of projects under development and a pipeline of over 1.0 million square meters. In November, e-Shang announced the creation of a US$500 million joint venture with APG and CPPIB to build out its large pipeline in the Korean market.

Founded in 2006 by Stuart Gibson and Charles de Portes, Redwood is a specialized logistics real estate firm with recognized knowledge and experience that includes in-house development, leasing and asset management with 1.2 million square meters in operation and under development and a large pipeline in the most prime locations across China and Japan.

Redwood’s founders are considered pioneers in the development of institutional-quality warehouses in Asia, having founded both Prologis and AMB platforms in Japan in 1999 and 2003, respectively, and have executed more than US$4 billion of logistics real estate investments in the region since the late 1990s. With acceleration of the growth in Redwood’s business, the founders took on Equity International (“EI”) as a strategic partner in 2013. EI is a leading emerging markets real estate fund chaired and sponsored by Sam Zell. Redwood also secured other large fund and project-level investment partners including PGGM, Morgan Stanley, PAG and CBRE.

?Walkers acted as Cayman Islands counsel to e-Shang Cayman Ltd with a team led by Arwel Lewis (Picture) and including Amelia Hall.

Involved fees earner: Arwel Lewis – Walkers Global; Amelia Hall – Walkers Global;

Law Firms: Walkers Global;

Clients: Shanghai e-Shang Warehousing Services Co.,Ltd.;

For more on this story go to: http://www.globallegalchronicle.com/index.php/asia-pacific/item/11195-e-shang-cayman-ltd-merges-with-redwood-group-asia-pte-ltd