GIC in talks to acquire warehousing assets from ESR for $400 million

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC is in talks with warehousing developer ESR group to pick up a 10 million square feet portfolio of warehousing space for an enterprise valuation of around $400 million (approximately Rs 3,300 crore), said two sources aware of the development.

ESR group is Asia Pacific region’s largest real asset manager and the third largest listed real estate investment manager globally.

ESR manages $156 billion in total assets under management (AUM), across markets such as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, India, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. ESR is also the largest sponsor and manager of REITs in Asia Pacific with a total AUM of $46 billion.

ESR entered the Indian market in 2017 and currently has a portfolio of 20 million square feet across 19 sites in 10 cities in the country.

ESR’s warehousing assets are present in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Gurugram, Pune, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Howrah. “ESR is looking to monetise around 10 million sq ft of its operating and has leased out industrial warehousing assets. Anarock is advising ESR on the transaction. GIC is leading the discussions,” said one of the sources cited above.

An email sent to GIC did not elicit a response till press time. A spokesperson for ESR India declined to comment stating the transaction is at preliminary stages and ESR is in talks with multiple bidders.The Indian industrial warehousing market is seeing a sharp growth driven by economic growth and shortage of high-quality warehousing assets.