Itochu Corp., a Japanese leading trading house, is looking to bolster logistics centers development in greater Tokyo region and other major cities in Japan, announcing a plan to increase investment to 100 billion yen in next three years. A series of developments will start soon in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, where Itochu in collaboration with a Singaporean developer will build a multi-tenant warehouse at 20 billion yen.

The company, who has been managing a private fund for logistics facilities since 2004, has a track record in the industry of more than a million m2 total floor with some 200 billion yen investment. As the demand for advanced system and cost efficiency increase under circumstances of expanding electric commerce, Itochu decided to enhance facility development for the logistics industry.

A collaborative business scheme with Maple Tree Investments, the Singaporean state-owned developer has been established to make more efficient investment as well as to take advantages of the developer’s global networks. The first collaborative project in Sakai city, Osaka is to build a multi-tenant facility with 132,000 m2 total floor area. The construction will start by the end of 2014 and it is expected to complete in 2016. (2014/09/11)