Real estate firm Casagrand Builder is in talks with global logistics fund Ascendas-Firstspace to sell a 22-acre fully built and leased warehousing space in Chennai’s Mahindra World City in a deal valued at about Rs 400 crore, said people aware of the development.
“Casagrand and Ascendas-Firstspace have signed a non-disclosure agreement and the deal is expected to close soon,” said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified.
This is the second warehousing deal inked by the Chennai-based developer, which builds, leases and sells multi-product warehousing and industrial parks across the southern market.
Casagrand Builder and Ascendas-Firstspace refused to comment on the deal.
“Casagrand plans to develop multiple high-grade logistics and warehousing parks across key locations in Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Hyderabad and sell them to funds,” said another person.
In 2019, PE fund, LOGOS India had bought 2.2 million sq ft of warehousing assets in Chennai from Casagrand Distripark in the largest deal of the year valued at about Rs 700 crore.
The warehousing and logistics industry has seen significant interest from large e-commerce firms amid growth in domestic demand and a possible manufacturing shift to India as global manufacturers de-risk their supply chains.
The Ascendas-Firstspace joint venture currently has 13 million sq ft of logistic parks with development potential and India remains one of its key markets. It plans to invest in projects aimed at developing logistics and factory spaces in Mumbai, the National Capital Region, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.
In 2018, Temasek and Ascendas-Singbridge (now CapitaLand) Group had jointly committed about $400 million in logistics and industrial real estate across major locations in the country.
India is expected to add 170 million sq ft of new warehousing supply across the top eight cities by 2023, according to the ‘Warehousing Market Report – 2020’ by JLL India.
The segment is also expected to attract a large pool of capital after the Covid-19 pandemic subsides globally, with large funds such as Blackstone, ESR and Morgan Stanley looking at rental yielding assets for investment.
The industrial and warehousing sector has witnessed investment inflows of $3.7 billion since 2017 owing to robust demand from e-commerce and other consumer-led occupiers, said Colliers International.
