(Reuters) - Real estate developer Dexus <DXS.AX> said it had agreed to set up a A$2 billion ($1.45 billion) trust with Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC to invest in Australian logistics properties.
The joint venture will be known as the Dexus Australian Logistics Trust and will be seeded with assets from Dexus' existing industrial portfolio, the company said in a statement on Monday. The trust will have a 97 percent exposure to markets in Sydney and Melbourne.
Dexus said that subject to approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board, GIC would take an initial 25 percent investment in the joint venture's core portfolio, with put and call rights to acquire an additional 24 percent by June 2020. Dexus will hold 75 percent of the core portfolio initially.
On establishment of the trust, Dexus' third-party assets under management will increase to A$14.3 billion, the company said, reiterating its guidance for fiscal 2019.
($1 = 1.3839 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney)
