Australian warehouse operator Goodman Group has formed a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi Investment Council to invest $1 billion in industrial property in Tokyo Bay and Osaka in Japan.

The company said it has launched the Goodman Japan Development Partnership (GJCF) with $500 million in equity. After borrowing an equal amount, Goodman expects the joint venture to buy property worth at least $1 billion.

The new venture's first investments are in Tokyo Bay and Osaka, with three projects covering 250,000 sq m worth 55.5 billion yen ($703 million).

Announcing the warehouse JV, Group CEO Greg Goodman said, 'This demonstrates our successful capital partnering approach with global investor groups and underscores our strategy of matching third party capital with growing development pipeline.'

'The new development partnership provides us with significant capacity to accelerate our expansion plans in Japan in a prudent and measured manner,' he stated.

The Goodman Group has successfully completed two transactions that underpin its Japanese business strategy, with the establishment of $1 billion development partnership and new equity commitments for GJCF, a 50/50 venture with the Abu Dhabi group.

“We are pleased to welcome new investors into GJCF which is well placed to take advantage of structural changes in the Japanese logistics market, leading to increased customer demand for modern logistics space with supply in key locations remaining constrained,” Goodman added.-TradeArabia News Service