In December 2008, GIC Real Estate acquired the Asian assets of U.S. industrial REIT ProLogis, and Jeffrey Schwartz became chairman of Global Logistic Properties (GLP), a new 50-50 joint venture asset management entity formed between GIC Real Estate, the real estate investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., and former ProLogis China and Japan senior management teams. Ming Mei, former CEO China and Asian emerging markets for ProLogis, is president of GLP. Schwartz, former chairman and CEO of ProLogis, serves as GLP chairman. Schwartz recently spoke with The Institutional Real Estate Letter – Asia Pacificeditor Jennifer Molloy about the new partnership.

Describe the circumstances surrounding how this new GLP venture came about. How had the two parties worked together in the past, and what was the catalyst for creating the new partnership?

On 23 December 2008, GIC Real Estate acquired 100