Global investor Blackstone Group has emerged as the top bidder to buy the warehousing assets of LOGOS India with a bid amount of around Rs 1,200 crore, said sources. The warehousing developer’s properties are located in Chennai and Haryana’s Luhari. “The final bid was selected a few days ago. But the deal is yet to be signed,” sources added.
A Blackstone spokesperson declined to comment. An e-mail sent to LOGOS India did not elicit any response till the time of going to press.
Blackstone, Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC and Japanese shipping major Mitsui OSK Lines were in the race for the portfolio spanning across 5 million sq ft. Chennai logistics parks are strategically located in Irungattukottai-Poonamallee-Sriperumbudur and Oragadam-Maraimalai Nagar.
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The acquisition fits well into the overall strategy of Blackstone, which owns Horizon Industrial Parks, a logistics parks developer in India, said sources.
Horizon Industrial Parks (together with affiliates) manages 25 industrial and logistics parks spread across more than 1,700 acres with an area of 43 million sq ft in 10 key markets in the country.
In 2021, Blackstone acquired the Embassy Industrial Parks, a joint venture between Embassy group of Bengaluru and Warbug Pincus, a US-based investor, at an enterprise valuation of Rs 5,200 crore. Blackstone also has a JV with the Hiranandani group for warehousing properties.
Earlier this year, Horizon inked a deal with Central Warehousing Corporation to develop and manage warehouses across multiple locations.
The sale by LOGOS follows the merger with Asia Pacific-focused property developer ESR in Asian countries, including India. “Following the merger, they are looking to monetise some of the assets,” the sources said .
LOGOS India had planned to raise nearly $300 million (around Rs 2,490 crore) from global investors to fund its development plans in the March quarter, CEO Mehul Shah told FE in an interview earlier this year. The company plans to develop 2.5 million sq ft and deploy Rs 600-700 crore annually in the next three years, Shah had said.
Leasing of industrial and warehousing in the country is steadily increasing. During January-September, industrial and warehousing saw a 20.2 million sq ft of leasing, registering a 17% annual growth, across the top five cities in India, global property consultant Colliers said on Wednesday. Interestingly, the quarterly average space uptake has steadily increased from 5.7 million sq ft in 2021 to 6.7 million sq ft in 2024.
During the first three quarters of the year, Delhi-NCR and Chennai cumulatively accounted for a 53% share in the overall leasing. While Third Party Logistics (3PL) players continued to dominate the overall demand, contributing to 35% share in overall leasing, demand from the engineering and FMCG segments was significant.
At a micro-market level, Bhiwandi in Mumbai has witnessed 3.7 million sq ft of leasing activity in 2024, followed by Oragadam in Chennai and Chakan-Talegaon in Pune. Both have seen more than 2 million sq ft of demand and continue to drive warehousing demand in respective cities, Colliers said.
From: financialexpress
Financial News
