Forchn Seeks to Join Cainiao in Shopping for Southeast Asia Land

Forchn Holdings Group Co. may team up with an arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to buy land and assets such as warehouses in Southeast Asia, as they both look to expand beyond China.

The Shanghai-based company plans to co-invest $300 million over the next three years and is in talks with companies including Cainiao Network, said Ren Wang, Forchn’s chief investment officer. Alibaba is the controlling shareholder of Cainiao while Forchn owns about 2 percent of the company.

“As Chinese e-commerce players including Alibaba expand into Southeast Asia, we intend to partner up with them in acquiring assets and have them as anchor tenants in some of our warehouses in the region,” Wang said in an interview.

Forchn will focus mainly on Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and second-tier cities in China, Wang said. The company has started raising $150 million with YCH Group Pte., a Singapore supply chain firm, and targets a 20 percent internal rate of return. Forchn manages more than $1 billion of funds focusing on logistics properties in China.