Warehousing and logistics-focused real estate developer ESR India, a joint venture between ESR Group and Allianz Real Estate, has acquired an additional piece of land to expand its industrial park in Oragadam, near Chennai.
The acquisition of 27 acres for Rs 276 crore (over $33 million) takes the total area of the park to 107 acres, ESR said in a statement. With this land acquisition, the Asia Pacific-focused real asset manager aims to expand its warehousing facility and cater to customers looking to establish their operations in the Oragadam-Sriperumbudur precinct.
ESR said the industrial park has recorded strong demand for Grade A industrial buildings in the past two years. “ESR's expansion in Oragadam is a pivotal step in our support for Tamil Nadu's commitment to becoming a major industrial hub. This project transcends Grade A industrial buildings,” said Abhijit Malkani, CEO of ESR India.
The industrial park counts electromechanical firm CUBIC and specialty labelling company CCL Industries among its tenants. The park houses at least 22 Fortune 500 companies operating in industries such as automobile, auto ancillary, auto component manufacturing, third-party logistics, electronics, energy, aerospace, and defence.
ESR India’s industrial assets are present in cities including Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Gurugram, Delhi, and Howrah, adding up to 18 such facilities in the country.
Apart from asset acquisition, development and leasing, ESR India raised two funds—ESR India Logistics Fund-1 and ESR India Logistics Fund-2. The latter was closed in 2020 at a corpus of $300 million.
The first fund was raised with a develop-to-sell strategy, aimed at providing investors access to high-quality development assets in prime locations. The second fund was targeted at expanding ESR India’s portfolio and acquiring high-yield development opportunities across Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities.
ESR Group’s total assets under management are valued at about $150 billion, with 14 publicly listed real estate investment trusts. The real asset manager has a presence across 28 countries. Since its entry in India in 2017, its total area of operation has spread across 22 million square feet. For its maiden deal in India, the company said in 2019 that it would buy warehouses from Future Market Networks Ltd.