Canada's Brookfield buys controlling stake in Gulf Islamic Investment's logistics portfolio
Canadian fund manager acquires controlling interest in GII-owned assets
Dubai: Canada's Brookfield Asset Management has bought a controlling stake in Gulf Islamic Investments' (GII) logistics real estate portfolio, which features 1.5 million square feet of warehouses in the UAE. The investment, the figure for which has not been revealed, is another indicator of the heavy-duty deal-making playing out in the UAE commercial real estate space.
Brookfield, which made the GII deal through one of its private real estate funds, marks its foray into the logistics sector in the region. "Brookfield plans to invest and scale the platform overtime through the acquisition and development of high-quality logistics real estate assets," said a statement.
“Our on-the-ground approach to investment and our global relationships have helped us build a portfolio of marquee assets across real estate, infrastructure, and financial services in the region," said Jad Ellawn, Managing Partner, Head of Middle East, Brookfield.
"Given the continued ecommerce and consumption-led growth in the region, we believe there will be exciting opportunities, to leverage our global expertise and provide solutions to our partners in the Middle East.”
The UAE master-developer Aldar has been another to make significant buys in the logistics space, including in Dubai.
Brookfield, along with partners, owns and operates 3 million square feet of commercial real estate in the region, including ICD Brookfield Place in DIFC. Brookfield’s logistics portfolio extends to 80 million square feet on five continents. (Brookfield has $900 billion as assets under management globally.)
According to Mohammed Alhassan, the GII co-CEO, "Due to increasing interconnectivity, the region is witnessing enhanced integration of the Gulf economies, leading to a surge in demand for logistics assets.”
GII has over $4.5 billion of assets under its management and has been investing in logistics real estate assets since 2018. More recently, it has focused on acquiring, aggregating, repurposing, and developing facilities for leading transport and ecommerce companies in the GCC.