SC Capital Backs China’s Electric Vehicle Future With Suzhou Industrial Project

SC Capital Partners is betting on China’s electric car future, with the real estate fund manager announcing Monday that a joint venture backed by one of the firm’s funds has acquired a high-tech manufacturing project in Suzhou Industrial Park near Shanghai which is already partially leased to an EV battery maker.

The Singapore-based firm has joined forces with THI Holding Management Corporation to buy a 50,000 square metre (538,196 square foot) plot that will be developed into 103,000 square metres of gross lettable area, SC Capital said in a release.

An EV battery pack company, Zero Point, has been secured as the anchor tenant for the project, which is to be built to LEED Gold standards and equipped with rooftop solar panels. Zero Point will use its space for R&D and battery pack production, while the rest of the facility will be leased mostly to other high-tech manufacturers.

“We are delighted to strengthen our collaboration with THI and their team of experienced professionals as we pursue further growth opportunities in the industrial/logistics sector in the Yangtze River Delta,” said SC Capital chairman Suchad Chiaranussati.

Opportunistic Bet

SC Capital did not disclose the value of the deal, which is its second acquisition of an asset in Suzhou Industrial Park, saying only that the transaction fell under the firm’s Real Estate Capital Asia Partners opportunistic fund series.

Last year, SC Capital launched its sixth fund in the RECAP series with a goal to raise $1 billion — up 17.6 percent increase from the $850 million raised by its predecessor, the 2017-vintage RECAP V, which has recorded at least 27 transactions including the sale of a set of Shanghai logistics assets to Morgan Stanley in May 2022.

The financial giant’s Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing arm bought more than 210,000 square metres of combined logistics space in the Yangtze River Delta cities of Nantong, Taicang, Suzhou and Jiaxing from RECAP V for an undisclosed sum.

SC Capital has raised $3.8 billion in equity commitments from institutional investors in the past 19 years across its real estate strategies.

Morgan Stanley Partnership

Founded in 2017 in Singapore, THI has developed more than 650,000 square metres of industrial space in China and manages $500 million in assets. At the time the announcement was made, THI Holding Management Corporation’s website listed SC Capital’s mainland China-based partner, Michael Lane, as its founding partner and CEO. However, Lane and other representatives of SC Capital have since indicated that he was not a founder of THI.

Mingtiandi was informed that the THI website, which has since been updated to remove references to Lane, had been made as a test effort and was not intended for publication. Lane stated that THI had been founded by Sarah Hu, along with other individuals.

The company lists both SC Capital and Morgan Stanley as strategic partners, with the US group and THI having jointly invested $100 million in the construction of THI World and Industrial Park. The complex in Suzhou’s Kunshan City will provide space for projects in key industries including semiconductors and intelligent manufacturing.

“Activity in the logistics/industrial space around the Yangtze River Delta region has remained strong with great vitality, even amidst the pandemic,” said Sarah Hu, director and general manager of THI Management. “Moving forward, we anticipate the demand for industrial/logistics assets in the region to remain resilient.”

Note: An earlier version of this story described the project as an EV battery facility. It has been updated to show that the project is a manufacturing facility which is partially leased to an EV battery maker. The earlier version also indicated that SC has raise $3.8 billion across its RECAP and SCORE strategies. The $3.8 billion represents the full amount raised by the firm’s private real estate strategies. Mingtiandi regrets any misunderstanding.