Blackstone Completes Buy of Logos India Warehouses for Over $203M

After vowing early this year to boost its India logistics holdings, Blackstone has acquired a set of warehouses from Logos Asia for more than INR 17.25 billion ($203 million), according to sources familiar with the transaction who spoke with Mingtiandi.

Blackstone recently completed its purchase of the three properties in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state and in Haryana, north of Delhi, after Mingtiandi reported in October that the US private equity firm was in exclusive discussions for purchase of the logistics assets.

The deal, the completion of which was first reported by India’s Economic Times, adds more than 500,000 square metres (5.4 million square feet) of grade A warehouses to Blackstone’s holdings in a market which experienced a nearly 32 percent increase in logistics leasing during the first three quarters of 2024, according to research by Savills.

The deal helps pave the way for Blackstone, which has an industrial real estate pipeline equivalent to 4 million square metres of built space under its Horizon Industrial Parks platform, to line up a public listing of that business, following earlier IPOs of its commercial property holdings in the country, according to market sources.

India North and South

At the reported compensation, Blackstone is paying the equivalent of more than INR 37,000 per square metre for the Logos assets, which include two warehouses in Chennai and a third in the Haryana city of Luhari.

Logos Asia, which was spun off from ESR earlier this year with the exit from that Hong Kong-listed giant of Logos co-founder Trent Iliffe, had begun marketing the assets in July of this year, with the deal having been completed within five months. Blackstone had yet to respond to inquiries from Mingtiandi by the time of publication, while Logos Asia representatives declined to comment.

Following completion of the sale, Logos, which earlier this year said it has plans to develop an additional 230,000 square metres of India warehouses, will continue to manage the three properties on behalf of Blackstone, Mingtiandi understands.

The assets include Logos Mappedu Industrial and Logistics Park, which spans more than 110,000 square metres of built area on a 218,530 square metre site along the Bangalore-Chennai industrial corridor, as well as Logos MWC Industrial & Logistics Park, a 39,300 square metre park in Chennai’s Mahindra World City.

The third property, Logos Luhari Logistics Estate has 281,000 square metres of gross  lettable area on a 497,000 square metre site within an hour’s drive of central Gurgaon in northern India.

The properties are reported to be over 95 percent occupied by tenants including logistics providers Kuehne+Nagel, NCR Logistics and Mahindra Logistics, US document storage player Iron Mountain and local e-commerce firms Delhivery and HealthKart.

Annual rental income from the portfolio is said to be INR 1.25 billion, with Singapore sovereign fund GIC and Japanese shipping giant Mitsui OSK Lines said to have been among as many as 10 bidders having competed for the assets.

Adding Sheds

Logistics property has long been one of Blackstone’s favoured themes globally, with the company last week reported to have acquired a portfolio of 10 logistics parks in the Czech Republic from TPG Real Estate for $495 million.

In a March interview with Bloomberg, Kathleen McCarthy, co-head of global real estate for Blackstone said that the company hopes to monetise its India logistics holdings through a strategic sale or public offering, with market sources indicating that the New York-based firm is making progress towards an India industrial IPO.

Since that interview, the company’s Horizon Industrial Parks has taken over a portfolio of 13 last-mile logistics assets held by an Indian government entity, with plans to redevelop those assets. Blackstone has also been expanding its logistics holdings through development, including breaking ground on its second logistics park in Pune, near Mumbai, in April.

Last week Blackstone received approval to acquire a stake in Bengaluru business park developer Bagmane Group, with the company in September also having filed for its fourth India REIT, a hospitality trust which is expected to raise up to $238 million through its IPO.

In 2025 Blackstone is also expected to launch a commercial property REIT, together with local partners Sattva Group and Panchshil Realty, which could raise up to $1 billion through its initial public offering, local media reported this month, citing sources familiar with the plans.