Thursday, September 27, 2007

Mapletree Logistics Trust

Source : The Business Times, September 27, 2007

OVERVIEW

MAPLETREE Logistics Trust (MapletreeLog) is a pan-Asia logistics Reit which invests in a diversified portfolio of income-producing real estate-related assets. It aims to harness the growth of the supply chain and logistics business in Asia.

Mapletree Logistics Trust Management is the manager of MapletreeLog. It aims to deliver stable total returns to MapletreeLog's unitholders through its 'Yield plus Growth' strategy by undertaking:

* Yield-accretive acquisitions of good-quality logistics properties in Asia

* Positive asset enhancement measures to improve the organic returns from MapletreeLog's property portfolio

* Optimisation of capital structure and effective risk management

The MapletreeLog portfolio has grown by more than four times since it was listed to 61 completed properties in China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia with a book value of more than $2.2 billion. When the trust was listed in July 2005, we had 15 properties in Singapore with a book value of $422 million.

This progress brings us closer to our goal of achieving a portfolio size of $5 billion for MapletreeLog by 2010.

We are confident of meeting our distribution per unit (DPU) forecast for FY07. In fact, by 1H 07 we achieved a distribution per unit (DPU) of 3.07 cents, which is more than half of our FY07 forecast of 5.69 cents.

We are exploring new markets in Vietnam, South Korea, Thailand, India and Taiwan. By diversifying, our unitholders enjoy more stable distributions as income streams are not significantly affected by the impact of fluctuations in single markets.

Our future looks optimistic. Asian economic growth is expected to remain strong, which bodes well for the logistics and logistics real estate sectors.

With the outsourcing trend gaining momentum worldwide, there is an increasing demand for the supply chain services provided by third party logistics (3PL) players. To support the growing volume of supply chain activities in Asia, more good quality logistics facilities are needed.

By having a pan-Asia portfolio of quality, high-specification logistics real estate which are either located close to major transportation hubs, ports or airports or in established industrial and distribution hubs, MapletreeLog aims to be a strategic real estate solution provider to these 3PLs as they expand in Asia.

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