CTP N.V., a European developer and operator of logistics and industrial real estate, has agreed to buy the entire Vietnam portfolio and operating platform of Southeast Asia Logistics Partners (SLP) from U.S. alternative asset manager Ares Management for about $500 million, the company said on Monday.

The deal turns CTP from a newcomer holding two land plots into an operator with finished, leased buildings in both of the country's main industrial corridors. For investors in Asia, it is another sign that global landlords are paying up for exposure to manufacturers moving production out of China, a theme that has pushed registered foreign direct investment into Vietnam sharply higher in 2026.

What CTP is buying from Ares

SLP's Vietnam business includes seven completed properties with a combined 504,000 square meters of net lettable area, all finished between 2022 and 2024, according to Vietnam Investment Review. Those buildings produce more than $23 million a year in stabilized net operating income.

On those figures, the standing assets alone would imply a yield of roughly 4.6% on the headline price, although the price also covers land and a development pipeline. Neither company disclosed how the price splits between completed and planned space.

The pipeline is large. SLP holds six development sites with room for about 585,000 square meters more, which would take the portfolio to roughly 1.1 million square meters at full build-out. Construction has already started on two of the sites, which are due to deliver 140,000 square meters of Grade A space. CTP expects the full pipeline to add $33.8 million in annual net operating income, which would more than double the current income stream once leased.

Geographically, about 59% of the portfolio is in the north, around Hanoi, Bac Ninh and Haiphong, and 41% is in the south around Ho Chi Minh City, The Investor reported. Tenants include parcel carriers J&T Express and Shopee Express and Japanese freight forwarder Nippon Express. SLP also brings a leasing network in China, which CTP can use to court Chinese manufacturers looking for space abroad.

More than 55 SLP employees working in development, leasing, asset management and property management are expected to move to CTP once the deal completes. The transaction still needs regulatory approvals and other conditions to be met, and the companies expect it to close in the coming months.

CTP's push into Asia

CTP only entered Vietnam in early 2026, when it bought two development sites with potential for about 210,000 square meters of lettable space. Buying SLP gives it an established team and rent-paying customers rather than building a platform from scratch.

Chief Investment Officer Maarten Otte said the deal "presents a compelling opportunity for us to accelerate the expansion of CTP Asia." Chief Executive Remon Vos pointed to Vietnam's manufacturing base, its labor and energy costs and its improving infrastructure, and described the country as a natural destination for companies pursuing "China+1" strategies.

CTP set out its economic case in the announcement, as reported by Vietnam Investment Review. Vietnam's economy grew 8% in 2025 and draws about $40 billion of foreign direct investment a year, the company said. Average monthly wages were about $308 in 2024, compared with about $1,400 in China, and e-commerce revenue is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 10.6% through 2030. Among the multinational manufacturers already in the country, CTP listed Samsung, LG, Foxconn, Goertek, Nvidia and Lego.

Why logistics landlords want Vietnam

Demand for modern warehouses has been fed by a surge in factory investment. Registered foreign direct investment exceeded $50.36 billion in the first nine months of 2026, up 76.4% from a year earlier, while disbursed investment rose 12.1% to $21.07 billion, according to UOB figures cited by the Vietnam News Agency. The World Bank has estimated that goods tied to artificial intelligence supplied more than 70% of Vietnam's export growth this year.

That boom has risks attached. S&P Global Ratings has noted that foreign-invested companies account for about 70% of Vietnam's exports, leaving the economy exposed to shifts in global supply chains, the news agency reported. Inflation has also crept above the government's 4.5% target, with consumer prices up 5.08% in September from a year earlier, which complicates the State Bank of Vietnam's job of keeping credit cheap. A stronger currency has added to the picture: the dong recently hit an 18-month high on a record trade surplus.

For a landlord, those risks are partly offset by tenant mix. Parcel carriers and freight forwarders such as J&T Express and Nippon Express serve both domestic consumers and exporters, so occupancy does not hinge on a single factory customer.

The next marker is completion. CTP said the deal should close in the coming months once regulators sign off, and the two sites already under construction are set to add 140,000 square meters to the portfolio as they are finished.