On 21 February 2020, Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) held an extraordinary general meeting to gain its unitholders’ approval to acquire Mapletree Kobe Logistics Centre in Japan for JPY 22,200.0 million (S$276.0 million).

This property has a net lettable area (NLA) of 84,783 sq. m and an implied net property income yield of 4.0%. Most of the acquisition cost will be financed by the drawing down of MLT’s JPY debt facilities, the issuance of onshore JPY bonds, and the issuance of acquisition fee units. According to CFO Charmaine Lum, the expected cost of borrowing to fund the acquisition is 0.9%.

Here are seven things I learned from attending the 2020 Mapletree Logistics Trust EGM:

1. This move was motivated by the e-commerce trend sweeping Japan. Japan is the second largest e-commerce market in Asia Pacific and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10% from 2018 to 2023. Demand will