NEW DELHI: Actis, a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Mahindra Lifespaces, the real estate and infrastructure development arm of the Mahindra Group, to establish an integrated business to develop industrial and logistics real estate facilities across India.
Actis is investing for a majority stake in the joint venture, with Mahindra Lifespaces owning a significant minority stake.
The business will acquire and develop greenfield and brownfield sites in key markets across India, aiming to become a leading real estate solutions provider to global and local corporations.
Up to 100 acres of land with ready infrastructure in the Mahindra World Cities, offering a built-up potential of over two million square feet, have been earmarked as seed sites to be acquired and developed by the business over time, subject to requisite approvals. Industrial and warehousing have emerged as a high-growth real estate asset class buoyed by rising consumer demand and accelerating manufacturing investment. The National Logistics Policy announced recently by the Indian Prime Minister is expected to give a further fillip to investments in the sector.
Ashish Singh, Partner and Head of India and SE Asia Real Estate, Actis, said, “The warehousing sector in India is in the early stages of a transformation, rapidly gaining scale while also undergoing modernisation. As experienced builders and operators of sustainable New Economy Real Estate, Actis sees enormous growth potential in the sector as India grows to become the third largest consumption economy globally by the turn of this decade. The demand for industrial real estate is on the rise as India benefits from a renewal of domestic capital investment cycle, realignment of global supply chains in many sectors and, as the government’s PLI schemes catalyse, more and more investment in manufacturing locally. Yet, there is need for more dependable real estate solution providers and institutional owners in this sector. Actis is excited to partner with Mahindra Lifespaces to invest in the development of modern and sustainable warehousing and industrial space in India which will improve logistics efficiency and support industrial growth, both key focus areas for the government. “
Commenting on the joint venture, Arvind Subramanian, Managing Director and CEO, Mahindra Lifespaces, said, “We are witnessing strong and accelerating demand for Grade A warehousing and manufacturing facilities from both multinational and Indian clients. With our experience in building and operating thriving integrated cities and industrial parks and our ready-to-market plug-and-play infrastructure in Mahindra World Cities in Chennai and Jaipur, we are well-positioned to cater to this demand. We look forward to combining the expertise of both partners in infrastructure development and asset management and contributing to the vision of ‘Self-dependent India’.”