ESR Group, the sponsor of SGX-listed ESR-LOGOS REIT (E-LOG), has embarked on an 80:20 strategic partnership with GIC to establish a US$600 million ($847.9 million) joint venture on Nov 1.
The JV will invest in income-producing core industrial and logistics assets in India, reads the joint release by ESR and GIC.
The JV represents an extension of their existing partnership in India. The partnership was first initiated in 2020 with the initial capital pool dedicated to investing in development and value-add logistics and industrial opportunities across India.
In their joint statement, the parties state that the new core JV will provide capital that’s dedicated to enabling inorganic growth of the platform. It will also invest in stabilised operational assets in strategic locations across Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities in India.
In their release, ESR and GIC note that investments in enabling sustainable infrastructure are critical to the country's development.
“With an upsurge in the share of organised retail and e-commerce, supported by emerging sectors such as electric vehicles and semiconductors, the industrial and logistics asset class is expected to outperform other real estate and infrastructure asset classes in the medium term,” reads the statement.
"Capital partner support has been key to the growth of ESR's new economy real estate platform. We are excited to work with GIC to capitalise on the strong growth in the logistics sector in India. This stems from our long and deep strategic relationship covering multiple geographies and funds. As Asia Pacific's (APAC) largest real estate asset manager, ESR's integrated fund management platform has provided our capital partners with access to some of the world's best secular growth opportunities propelled by the positive trends of e-commerce and digital transformation,” say Jeffrey Shen and Stuart Gibson, co-founders and co-CEOs of ESR.
They add: “These trends open new investment opportunities to ESR and our capital partners as the demand for advanced, large-scale, well-located logistics and industrial assets become even greater.”
Abhijit Malkani, CEO of ESR India, says, “India is at the cusp of a supply chain transformation supported by automation, digitisation, and favourable government policies. Class-A industrial and logistics developments offer a variety of features to enable increased operational efficiency, which is vital to this shift. With the core JV platform, we will upgrade the assets as required, and add sustainability elements, to ensure that we offer the same product quality to our customers as we do for products that we develop ourselves.”
