Global private investment firm Starwood Capital Group announced that a controlled affiliate has agreed to purchase a 10.7% equity stake in ESR Group, a prominent real asset manager in the Asia-Pacific region.
This deal, part of a structured transaction, sees Starwood Capital partnering with ESR’s Co-Founders, Stuart Gibson and Charles de Portes.
Gibson will remain Co-Chief Executive Officer and an Executive Director of the Company and Portes will remain a Non-Executive Director of the Company.
Pursuant to the acquisition, all of the outstanding sums under the existing margin loan facility of the holding vehicle of the co-Founders will be fully extinguished.
ESR Group is APAC’s largest real asset manager. With approximately $156 billion in total assets under management focused on the new economy sectors of logistics, data centres and alternatives, the Company has a fully integrated development and investment management platform extending across key APAC markets, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, China, Southeast Asia and India.
Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital, commented: “ESR is the leading real estate platform in Asia Pacific with important market positions in logistics and data centres, which are key growth areas for Starwood Capital. I have known Stuart for many years and have always been impressed by the business he, Charles and co-CEO Jeffrey Shen have built. Having recently partnered with ESR in Australia, we are very pleased to expand and strengthen our relationship through this transaction. We have full faith and confidence in the management team and look forward to working with all stakeholders over the longer-term.”
Stuart Gibson, Executive Director, Group Co-Founder & Co-CEO, ESR Group, added: “I have known Barry for nearly 20 years and I look forward to partnering with Starwood Capital as an investor. We believe Starwood Capital’s support will allow ESR to continue to focus on delivering for our customers, shareholders and capital partners.”
Jeffrey Perlman, Non-Executive Chairman, ESR Group, commented: “We are very pleased to welcome Starwood Capital as a key shareholder and partner of ESR Group. Starwood Capital’s scale, global track record in public and private real estate and access to capital is highly complementary to the Company’s strategy. We believe this is a strong vote of confidence in ESR and its prospects going forward.”
