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SINGAPORE/HONG KONG, June 30 (Reuters) - The race to buy
Global Logistic Properties < GLPL.SI>  is now between a Chinese
consortium backed by the company' s management and a rival group
led by Warburg Pincus, sources said ahead of a Friday deadline
to submit bids for the $10 billion-valued firm.
    The acquisition offers a chance for bidders to grab control
of Asia' s biggest warehouse operator which counts Amazon
< AMZN.O>  among its clients and is benefiting from rising demand
for modern logistics facilities, driven by a boom in e-commerce
business.
    It could rank as one of the biggest private equity backed
deals in Asia.
    Singapore-listed GLP was thrust into the spotlight late last
year after sovereign wealth fund GIC, which owns a 37 percent
stake, nudged it to start a strategic review of its business.
JPMorgan was then hired by GLP as its financial adviser.
    GLP' s shares have since soared nearly 50 percent to the
highest in more than three years.
    After months of negotiations with a special committee of
GLP' s independent directors, the race has narrowed to between a
group led by Chinese private equity firms Hopu Investment
Management and Hillhouse Capital Group, with the support of GLP
CEO Ming Mei, and a rival consortium headed by Warburg Pincus
and its logistics partner e-Shang Redwood, the sources said.
    GLP, GIC, Warburg Pincus, Hopu and Hillhouse declined to
comment when contacted by Reuters. The sources declined to be
identified as they were not authorised to speak about the deal.

 (Reporting by Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE and Kane Wu and Carol
Zhong in HONG KONG  Additional reporting by Julie Zhu in HONG
KONG  Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
 (([email protected]  +65 64035676  Reuters Messaging:
[email protected]))

Keywords: GLP M& A/