A&B in Georgia deal

The Matson division will benefit from the busy port of Savannah

A&B Properties Inc. is purchasing a logistics center in Georgia, a move aimed at taking advantage of increasing global trade through the U.S. East Coast.

The nearly $50 million acquisition of the Savannah Logistics Center is the Alexander & Baldwin Inc. subsidiary's easternmost purchase yet, further linking A&B's real estate and logistics businesses.

Until 1989, all of A&B's holdings were in Hawaii. The company now owns 25 properties in Hawaii and 23 on the mainland.

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A&B Properties Inc., the real estate subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin Inc., has contracted to purchase a logistics complex in Georgia, the farthest east that it has ever expanded.

The nearly $50 million purchase of the Savannah Logistics Center from Oakmont Industrial Group extends the company's reach to a burgeoning eastern port, further linking A&B' s real estate and logistics businesses.

The deal is slated to close in the first quarter of 2008, after construction on the center is completed. The company said that it will fund the transaction using proceeds from recent and pending real estate sales, including various tax-deferred sources.

"This acquisition underscores our concerted strategy of diving deeper into our customers' value and supply chain," said Allen Doane, A&B chairman and chief executive officer. The purchase will continue to align A&B Properties' industrial holdings with the logistics expertise and market penetration of the company's transportation businesses, Matson Navigation and Matson Integrated Logistics, Doane said.

Up until 1989, all of A&B's holdings were in Hawaii. The company began diversifying its real estate holdings to the mainland after selling off some of its lands in Maui and began to buy logistics based properties in 1990, which up until now were mainly based on the West Coast, Nevada and Texas.

With the Savannah acquisition, A&B's leased income/investment portfolio will consist of approximately 7.6 million square feet of retail, office and industrial space. The company now owns 25 properties in Hawaii and 23 in North America.

The Port of Savannah over the last five years has become the fifth-busiest container port in the United States and the second-largest by volume on the East Coast. Container throughput at the Port of Savannah has grown by an average of 15 percent per year and is total container volume is expected to double by 2015.

"We see a very good opportunity that marries our development and property management expertise in the industrial arena with the logistics acumen of our sister company, Matson Integrated Logistics," said Norbert Buelsing, A&B Properties' executive vice president in charge of the company's income portfolio.

"The handling and distribution of product from foreign countries is expected to expand, and Savannah will position us to take advantage of it in both directions," Buelsing said.