LOGOS, Assetz set up venture worth $400 mn

The platform, named LOGOS India, is based in Mumbai and is led by CEO Mehul Shah

Sydney-based LOGOS Group and Singapore-based Assetz Property Group have formed a $400-million platform to set up logistics and industrial parks in the country.

The platform, named LOGOS India, is based in Mumbai and is led by Chief Executive Offiicer (CEO) Mehul Shah, a supply chain and logistics expert, said a release from the company. LOGOS India will initially focus on the key logistics hubs of Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

It has investors such as Canadian investor Ivanhoé Cambridge and Macquarie Corporate Holdings as its shareholders, and has operations in Australia, China, Southeast Asia.

"This venture is targeting the existing institutional capital partner relationships of LOGOS and will invest in the development of high quality, modern logistics assets across LOGOS India's initial target markets," the company said.

Trent Iliffe, joint managing director of LOGOS, said: "We are seeing extensive demand from our existing and new customers for institutional grade logistics facilities in the region. Our expansion into India continues to show LOGOS' commitment to establishing itself in growth markets alongside our important customer relationships."

Ben Salmon, co-founder and CEO of Assetz Property Group, said: "This is the coming together of two companies with complementary values. We look forward to lending our local development expertise to LOGOS India."

The logistics and warehousing space has seen hightened deal activity in recent months.

In June, Singapore-based Ascendas-Singbridge Group signed a joint venture (JV) with Firstspace Realty to set up the industrial logistics and warehousing centres, invest $ 600 million over 5-6 years and develop around 15 million sq ft of space.

Canadian investor Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Everstone Group's logistics firm IndoSpace, announced a JV IndoSpace Core in May to acquire and develop modern logistics facilities. CPPIB has initially committed around $500 million and will own a significant majority stake.