GIC-led group in talks to buy IndCor in S$10b deal

SINGAPORE — GIC, the Republic’s sovereign wealth fund, is leading a consortium in negotiations to buy IndCor Properties from United States private equity giant Blackstone Group in a deal valued at about US$8 billion (S$10.3 billion), sources familiar with the matter said yesterday.

Chicago-based IndCor, formed in 2010 as a portfolio company of Blackstone, holds warehouses and distribution centres across the US, said the company’s website.

“Talks are still ongoing. We don’t know whether there will be a deal yet,” said one source, who declined to be identified as the discussions remained confidential. A spokeswoman for GIC declined to comment, while Blackstone had not replied to an email seeking comment by press time.

GIC’s plan to buy IndCor underlines its growing appetite for real estate in developed economies as a way to diversify its portfolio and secure better yields, even while property investments by other sovereign funds wane. If successful, the purchase will add to the building next to Tokyo’s main railway station that GIC bought last month and a deal announced on Monday to co-invest in Auckland’s Viaduct Quarter.

In a separate development, GIC is selling a stake worth more than RM400 million (S$156 million) in Malaysia’s property-to-construction conglomerate Sunway, a term sheet seen yesterday by Reuters showed.

GIC, whose stake in Sunway will fall to about 1.5 per cent from 8.7 per cent after the sale, has an option to sell the rest, the document showed.

Sunway officials were not available for comment. AGENCIES