Macrotech Developers, Bain Capital, Ivanho Cambridge to invest $1bn to develop warehousing parks

Realty firm Macrotech Developers on Wednesday announced a tie-up with Bain Capital and Ivanho Cambridge to set up a platform that will invest around USD 1 billion (about Rs 7,700 crore) to develop digital infrastructure space including warehousing and industrial parks across India.

The platform will establish a pan-India presence in the digital infrastructure space that includes logistics and light industrial parks as well as in-city fulfilment centres. “The platform will jointly invest about USD 1 billion to create around 30 million sq ft of operating assets to serve India’s digital economy,” the company said in a statement.

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Each of the three partners will have around 33 per cent equity interest in the property ownership. Mumbai-based Macrotech Developers, which markets its properties under Lodha brand, will lead the development, operations and management of the assets. Abhishek Lodha, MD and CEO, Macrotech Developers said, “With the rapid digitization of our economy and the progress of ‘Make in India’ combined with the China + 1 strategy of most global manufacturers, we see that there is a huge demand for Grade-A digital infrastructure in our country.”

Following the government’s focus on improving logistics efficiency and creating jobs in different parts of the country, he said the platform will plan the development of industrial and logistics parks as well as in-city fulfillment centres across multiple cities in India. “And we will focus on building and operating this digital infrastructure to the highest levels of environmental sustainability with the view to creating a global benchmark,” Lodha said.

The first project is a 110-acre logistics and industrial park development at Palava, an established location for digital infrastructure in Mumbai. The platform has already started looking at the pan-India acquisitions of land and developed/under-development projects in these asset classes. “This is an exciting partnership that brings together an experienced real estate developer with deep digital infrastructure capabilities with the complementary support of global investors with long track records of success in commercial real estate, Ali Haroon, Managing Director at Bain Capital said.

“We see a sustained, thematic opportunity to support India’s journey to a digital-first economy with high quality infrastructure, which we believe can have a very positive impact on communities, consumers and businesses throughout the country he added. This partnership opens up new perspectives for expansion of our logistics portfolio in India, a high conviction thesis well supported by strong sector fundamentals as India enters a digital super cycle, Chanakya Chakravarti, Vice President and Managing Director, India, at lvanho Cambridge said.

“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. The new partnership potentially enables lvanho Cambridge access to near city logistics opportunities as operators pivot to establish same day delivery solutions thus creating differentiated value in our portfolio construct and its scale,” he added.

Bain Capital is a leading global investment platform with deep experience in supporting the development of logistics, industrial, warehousing and digital assets. lvanho Cambridge, a global real estate industry leader and subsidiary of Caisse de d pot et placement du Qu bec (CDPQ), a global investment group, is involved in developing and investing in high quality real estate properties. Macrotech is already developing 300 acres of industrial and logistics park near Navi Mumbai, which is almost completely leased out. The company had recently announced a joint venture with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) for developing 72 acres at the park.

Macrotech Developers is among the largest real estate developers in India. Its core business is residential real estate development with a focus on affordable and mid-income housing. It has delivered more than 85 million square feet of real estate and is currently developing around 95 million square feet under its ongoing and planned portfolio. The group has approximately 4,400 acres of land beyond its ongoing and planned portfolio which will be utilized in developing further residential, commercial and industrial and logistics spaces.