Logistics investment and development firm LOGOS India has raised $400 million in equity capital from Ivanhoé Cambridge, a real estate subsidiary of Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ), Canada’s second largest pension fund, and Vancouver-based QuadReal Property Group to develop and own modern logistics facilities across cities.
LOGOS India is a partnership between LOGOS Group and Assetz Property Group, headquartered in Sydney and Singapore respectively, to set up a logistics and warehousing platform, which was announced earlier in August. The new venture will be called LOGOS India Logistics Venture.
LOGOS India will now invest a total of $800 million, including the $400 million of equity capital that it has raised, and will raise another $400 million of debt finance, Ben Salmon, chairman, LOGOS India and CEO, Assetz Property Group told Mint.
The firm has already identified a pipeline of opportunities across the key logistics hubs of Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, the National Capital Region (NCR), Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad to meet the increasing demand for modern facilities, the firm said on Tuesday. It will look at investment, development and asset management of the logistics assets.
“India is the next step in our pan-Asian real estate strategy. We are focused on meeting the strong demand from our customers and ensuring we can help them grow to address the challenges of the India supply-chain market,” said Trent Iliffe, joint managing director, LOGOS Group, in a statement.
Once assets under the platform are developed, it will be valued at around $1 billion, Salmon had earlier told Mint.
“We are pleased to invest in the logistics space in India, a promising high-growth real estate sector. India is a strategic market for Ivanhoé Cambridge and we are continuing to grow our presence and our footprint there,” said Rita Rose Gagné, president, Growth Markets, Ivanhoé Cambridge.
The warehousing and logistics sector, which has attracted investments of more than a billion dollars in the first half of 2017, is set to gain significant momentum, propelled by the goods and services tax (GST).
“After extensive due diligence to understand the economic, demographic and government forces driving growth in India, we are delighted to be partnering with Ivanhoé Cambridge and LOGOS India to invest in the logistics sector in strategic Indian markets,” said Jonathan Dubois Phillips, president, international real estate, QuadReal.
Macquarie Capital (Australia) Limited through its affiliate, Macquarie Capital, acted as exclusive financial adviser to LOGOS India for the transaction and as sole lead manager and arranger for the venture’s capital-raising initiative.
There has been a slew of deals in recent months in the warehousing sector signalling robust investor interest as well as demand for industrial parks in the country.
In June, Singapore-based Ascendas-Singbridge Group announced a joint venture (JV) with realty firm Firstspace Realty to enter the industrial logistics and warehousing market to jointly invest as much as $600 million over 5-6 years and develop around 15 million sq. ft of space.
Ascendas-Singbridge Group also bought six warehouses with a total space of around 832,000 sq. feet from Mumbai-based logistics firm Arshiya Ltd for Rs534 crore.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Everstone Group’s industrial and logistics real estate development platform, IndoSpace, announced a joint venture named IndoSpace Core in May to acquire and develop modern logistics facilities. CPPIB has committed around $500 million initially and will own a significant majority stake.
Source: Mint