Private equity major Warburg Pincus has partnered with Australian real estate group Lendlease to launch a new platform that will focus on real estate projects in the life sciences and R&D real estate markets in Asia Pacific.
Warburg Pincus and Lendlease each committed 50% of the co-investment capital over the next few years. The platform, which is headquartered in Singapore, also secured commitments from third-party investors, according to the announcement.
In particular, the joint venture platform will focus on investing, acquiring, developing, constructing, managing, and operating real estate projects in the region’s fast-growing life sciences and R&D real estate markets.
“We firmly believe the life sciences and R&D real estate industry presents a tremendous opportunity for outsized growth in Asia Pacific,” said Takashi Murata, managing director, co-head of Asia Real Estate, and head of Japan at Warburg Pincus.
The platform is seeded with two of Lendlease’s existing businesses – a high-barrier-to-entry life sciences project construction management business and a specialized investment management business.
It also has its first investment vehicle, LINO, which currently owns Leaf Minatomirai, a 24,000 square meter innovation and R&D workplace in Yokohama.
Lendlease is not new to the life sciences sector in Asia. In fact, the company has successfully delivered first-class pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and life sciences facilities across the US, APAC, and
Europe.
In 2022, Lendlease partnered with Dutch pension fund manager PGGM to hunt for real estate assets in the innovation and life sciences space through a S$1-billion joint venture.
Since the 2000s, Lendlease has worked on over 200 projects in Asia Pacific for industry players with many repeat clients, including the delivery of two-thirds of the greenfield life sciences facilities in the Tuas Biomedical Park in Singapore and more than 90% of the biotech plants in the precinct.
“Lendlease will leverage its expertise in supporting the world’s largest pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, together with Warburg Pincus’s global experience, resources, and strong track record in investing and scaling platforms in Asia,” said Lendlease Investment Management CEO Justin Gabbani.
