GIC, Hong-Kong-based ESR form JV to invest $750 mn in Indian realty

Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC on Tuesday announced a joint venture with the Hong Kong-headquartered ESR Cayman to form a USD 750 million joint venture which will develop and acquire industrial and logistics assets in India.

GIC will be owning 80 per cent stake in the joint venture, while ESR will own the remaining 20 per cent, an official statement said, adding the platform will focus on tier-I and tier-II cities across India where it will develop and own institutional-grade, industrial and logistics facilities.

It will be 'seeded' with a 2.2 million sq ft build-to-core asset, located in close proximity to the large consumption hubs of Mumbai and Thane, it added.

GIC's chief investment officer for real estate, Lee Kok Sun, said ESR is an integrated logistics platform and added that the Singaporean fund has been investing in India for more than a decade.

"...this investment is a testament to our confidence in the long-term potential of this market," he added.

The fund's co-head of real estate for Asia excluding China, Kishore Gotety said the strong pickup in e-commerce activity, which is reinforced by rising internet penetration, is expected to drive strong demand for industrial and logistics assets in the country.

An emphasis on infrastructure development, changing supply chains, and low vacancy levels lend further support to the investments in the sector, he said, hoping that the JV will deliver"resilient returns".

ESR India's country heads Abhijit Malkani and Jai Mirpuri said the JV is an extension of their platform's partnership with GIC and termed it as a strategic partnership which provides it an immediate scale to capitalise on the early growth stages of India's rapidly modernising industrial and logistics landscape.

"We have a strong conviction in the growth prospects of India's logistics real estate," ESR's co-founders and co-CEOs Jeffrey Shen and Stuart Gibson, said.

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