Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced that funds managed by Blackstone Real Estate have acquired Embassy Industrial Parks from Warburg Pincus and Embassy Group, in one of India’s largest logistics transactions. Embassy Industrial Parks comprises 10.6 million square feet of modern Grade A logistics and warehousing assets near urban centers, tailored for tenants in rapidly developing sectors. Blackstone is among the top 10 business groups in India by total value of assets and the transaction will help reinforce the firm’s leading position in office, retail and logistics.
Embassy Industrial Parks’ warehouses are located across major industrial hubs in India including Bangalore, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, and Pune, and are leased to leading e-commerce and retail players.
Asheesh Mohta, Head of Blackstone’s Real Estate India Acquisitions, said: “We are excited to announce this acquisition of a best-in-class logistics portfolio from Embassy Industrial Parks. Logistics is one of the firm’s highest global conviction themes, anchored by our belief that e-commerce trends will further fuel demand for logistics space especially near city centers. This is particularly true in India, where e-commerce is in its nascent stage of development and has tremendous opportunities driven by positive trends in urbanization, domestic consumption, and the emerging retail sector, which remains heavily underpenetrated compared to major economies around the world. For instance, Bangalore, the e-commerce hub, only has 30 million square feet of total Grade A and B warehouse space compared to 1.2 billion square feet in Chicago.”
Logistics is one of Blackstone’s core investment themes globally. Since 2010, Blackstone has acquired more than 1.2 billion square feet of logistics.
Tuhin Parikh, Blackstone’s Head of Real Estate India, said: “We are committed to growing our presence in India. For the past 16 years, we’ve been partnering with local developers and governments to transform assets and businesses, and help communities prosper. We’ve successfully launched the country’s first two REITs, with the very first Embassy Office Parks REIT marking its second-year anniversary this month, and recently announced the acquisition of a portfolio of commercial properties.
India is a unique market with solid growth potential, supported by its global leadership in information technology, strong talent pool, and government initiatives to attract foreign investment such as the introduction of a simplified tax structure and infrastructure projects.”
Jitu Virwani, Chairman and Managing Director of Embassy Group, said: “The partnership with Warburg Pincus has been extremely valuable to us and they will remain our trusted partners. This transaction between Embassy Group and Blackstone further strengthens and reinforces our partnership. We are extremely focused on consolidating our resources towards the growth of our core businesses of office and residential development and management. This transaction with Blackstone Real Estate along with the upcoming merger with IBREL is a strategic move in that direction.”
Blackstone is one of the largest global investors in India. It is dedicated to supporting people and businesses leveraging its scale, global expertise, and access to capital. This year, the firm supported the Blackstone-backed real estate platform Nucleus Office Parks in its collaboration with the local Mumbai government to redevelop one of Mumbai’s busiest districts and improve the safety and quality of life for residents, streamlining vehicle lanes, building pedestrian pathways and creating a public community space.
Blackstone Real Estate
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has $196 billion of investor capital under management. Blackstone is one of the largest property owners in the world, owning and operating assets across every major geography and sector, including logistics, multifamily and single-family housing, office, hospitality and retail. Our opportunistic funds seek to acquire undermanaged, well-located assets across the world.
Blackstone’s Core+ strategy invests in substantially stabilized real estate globally through regional open-ended funds focused on high-quality assets and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BREIT), a non-listed REIT that invests in
U.S. income-generating assets. Blackstone Real Estate also operates one of the leading global real estate debt businesses, providing comprehensive financing solutions across the capital structure and risk spectrum, including management of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE: BXMT).