Palava Industrial and Logistics Park is Lodha’s warehouse hub near Mumbai
North American investors Bain Capital and Ivanhoe Cambridge have set up a $1 billion industrial partnership with development giant Lodha, aiming to create 30 million square feet (2.8 million square metres) of operating assets to serve India’s digital economy.
The partnership will develop a next-generation green digital infrastructure platform of logistics and light industrial parks, as well as in-city fulfilment centres, across multiple cities in India, the partners said Wednesday in a release.
The maiden project under the platform is a 110 acre (44.5 hectare) logistics and industrial park at Palava, east of Mumbai. The platform is also looking at pan-India acquisitions of land and completed or under-development projects.
“We’re delighted to expand our partnership with two marquee global investors — Ivanhoe Cambridge and Bain Capital, who bring extensive experience in this asset class and dedicated resources to support the growth of this platform,” said Abhishek Lodha, managing director and CEO of the Mumbai-based firm.
Equal Partnership
US private equity major Bain Capital and Canadian pension fund manager Ivanhoe Cambridge will each hold equity interests of roughly 33 percent in the platform, with Lodha taking an equivalent stake while also leading development, operation and management of the assets.
Abhishek Lodha signed up some deep-pocketed foreign investors
Bain views the new partnership as bringing together an experienced developer with deep digital infrastructure capabilities and a pair of global investors with long track records of success in commercial real estate, said Ali Haroon, a managing director at the Boston-based company.
Chanakya Chakravarti, Ivanhoe Cambridge’s vice president and managing director for India, said he expects the partnership to improve the Montreal-based firm’s access to near-city logistics opportunities as operators pivot to establishing same-day delivery solutions.
“We look forward to expanding our logistics footprint by leveraging Lodha’s proprietary in-city sites, access to land pads in key warehousing nodes and their execution capabilities,” Chakravarti said.
Palava Rising
Lodha previously teamed up with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing to build a $77 million logistics park across 72 acres at Palava Industrial and Logistics Park (PILP), India’s Economic Times reported.
The partnership with the US investment bank’s property arm was formed in late 2021 and aims to develop 1.9 million square feet of warehouse space, with Lodha handling leasing, construction and asset management.
Last July, a subsidiary of Japan’s Hitachi Transport System Group acquired a 22.3 acre land parcel at PILP from Lodha, becoming the fourth multinational logistics firm to land there, the Economic Times said.
Ivanhoe Cambridge’s earlier activity in Indian industrial real estate includes financial backing for Logos India Logistics Venture, a 2017-vintage warehouse development initiative with Australia’s Logos and fellow Canadian property investor QuadReal.
The joint venture sought to invest $800 million in logistics facilities across the country, with the Canadian firms combining to contribute $400 million in equity and the partners raising a further $400 million in debt, Reuters reported.
Leave a Reply