Taikang Insurance buys majority stake in ESR Warehouse Fund worth $288m

This marks ESR’s latest funding tie-up with a mainland insurer.

Industrial heavyweight ESR has sold a 95% stake in a portfolio of six Chinese industrial properties to the mainland’s Taikang Insurance in a deal which values the assets at RMB2b ($288 million), according to a local bourse filing.

The Warburg Pincus-backed developer and fund manager sold a 349,649 square metre (3.8 million square foot) portfolio into a vehicle backed by the Beijing-based insurer, with ESR, which also manages the fund, retaining a 5% stake.

The sale of properties from ESR’s balance sheet marks its latest funding tie-up with a mainland insurer as it continues to shift to an asset-light model driven by management fee income while the financial giants keep boosting the real estate portion of their portfolios.