By Sherry Qin


Shares of real-estate manager ESR Group rose sharply after an affiliate of private investment firm Starwood Capital Group agreed to acquire a stake in the Hong Kong-listed company.

ESR Group's shares surged 11% on Wednesday morning to 8.62 Hong Kong dollars (US$1.10) after rising by as much as 14% earlier.

Sequoia Investco, a company controlled by Starwood Capital, agreed to acquire a 10.657% stake in ESR from Redwood Investment and repay all outstanding sums under an existing margin loan facility of Redwood, ESR said in an exchange filing Wednesday. Redwood Investment is controlled by two ESR directors, including Co-Chief Executive Stuart Gibson.

Earlier this month, ESR divested its ARA Private Funds business in Australia, Singapore, South Korea and the U.S. for an enterprise value of US$270.0 million to pare down debt.

ESR primarily engages in building and managing logistics properties, such as warehouses and distribution centers. It manages around US$150 billion in total assets across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.


Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-19-24 2307ET