Eversheds Sutherland advises Storefriendly in the scale up of its latest Hong Kong-based joint venture with Blackstone

Eversheds Sutherland has continued to advise Store Friendly Self Storage Group Limited (Storefriendly) on the recent scale-up of its Hong Kong-based joint venture with Blackstone.

Storefriendly, headquartered in Hong Kong, is one of the largest pan-Asian self-storage operators and has existing operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Taipei and Taichung City.

Blackstone, headquartered in New York, is a global leading investment firm, focusing on real estate, hedge funds, private equity, leveraged lending, senior debts and rescue financing, serving customers worldwide. Blackstone has approximately US$951 billion in assets under management as of 30 September 2022.

The Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong-based team was led by corporate Partner Dickson Ng who was supported by Associate Loretta Lo (corporate). Partner Cedric Lam and Senior Associate Winnie Ho of the Greater China IP team provided advice on the various intellectual property aspects of the transaction.

The recent scale-up of the Hong Kong-based joint venture follows the establishment of large-scale self-storage platforms in Singapore with Partners Group in February 2021 and in Hong Kong with Blackstone in April 2021, on which the Eversheds Sutherland team also advised Storefriendly.

To date, the Storefriendly-Blackstone joint venture in Hong Kong has acquired four en-bloc assets across Hong Kong Island, Kowloon East and the New Territories with the fourth asset, Novel Industrial Building, swiftly acquired after the recent scale-up. Novel Industrial Building is situated in Lai Chi Kok, West Kowloon, and was acquired at a consideration of approximately US$110 million.

Storefriendly and Blackstone will convert the acquired properties in Hong Kong into institutional-grade self-storage assets, which will be operated and managed exclusively by Storefriendly. With the completion of the transaction, Storefriendly continues to expand as the leading player in Hong Kong’s self-storage market.

Dickson Ng commented:

“It was our pleasure to continue our support of Storefriendly’s platform in Asia. Our continued involvement with Storefriendly and their ongoing expansion plans with their joint venture partners, Blackstone in Hong Kong and Partners Group in Singapore, is a testament of the trust that the client has placed in us on structuring and executing their complex transactions. I would like to thank Storefriendly and the entire team for their dedication and commitment in ensuring a successful collaboration with Storefriendly.”