Biggest IPO Ever? Warehouse Titan GLP Plans IPO Of U.S. Business With $20B Valuation

The biggest initial public offering in real estate history could come from a company that is hardly a household name.

GLP, a Singapore-based company with the second-largest warehouse portfolio in the world, is planning to take its U.S. business public this year, the Wall Street Journal reports. It is targeting a $20B valuation, more than twice as much as the $6B previous peak hit by Invitation Homes in 2017.

Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are reportedly underwriting the offering, with which GLP is attempting to raise $3B. Some potential capital sources have expressed interest in an outright acquisition, which GLP is willing to consider, the WSJ reports.

GLP was created when Prologis sold its Asian business to Singaporean investor GIC in 2009, and went public on Singapore's market a year later. Company management, reportedly backed by various investors, took the company private last year in a leveraged buyout. GLP intends to use the capital it raises to pay off debt incurred in that transaction.

IPOs have been a mixed bag in the real estate industry in the past year or so, with Newmark Group missing badly on its projections and Cushman & Wakefield outperforming its own. GLP dwarfs each of those brokerages in terms of market capitalization, and operates in perhaps the most lucrative asset class in commercial real estate right now. CBRE reported industrial vacancy at 4.3% nationwide at the end of last year, the lowest figure since it began tracking the number in 2002. 

GLP owns nearly 200M SF of warehouse space in the U.S. alone, the WSJ reports. Among its deep roster of tenants are a variety of e-commerce operators, most notably Amazon.