JLL facilitates Xander Investment and Large Box Leasing in a Logistics Park in Kolkata

Mumbai, 12 May, 2021: JLL today announced that it has facilitated the entry of Singapore based Xander Investment Management in the logistics sector in Eastern India, with the acquisition of an 800,000 sq ft Logistics Park that is being developed by Kolkata based Jalan Builders. The park is spread over approx. 30 acres of land near Bagnan on the NH-06.

This project is anchored by a leading E-Commerce player occupying 50% of the park which is operational. The balance portion of the park is under development and is slated to be completed by the first quarter of next year. 

JLL was the exclusive real estate financial consultant for this investment transaction. JLL was also the transaction advisor for leasing to e-commerce tenant in the project back in 2019.

Kolkata-Mumbai National Highway has fast emerged as a mature logistics market in the city with presence of e-commerce, third party logistics providers (3PL) & FMCG and a seamless connectivity to other parts of the city and the country. 

“Kolkata, due to its distribution advantages in East and North East India has emerged among the leaders in the country as a warehousing destination with almost 12 million sft of absorption in last 4 years. Kolkata Mumbai Highway (Santragachi to Bagnan stretch) is one of the most prominent warehousing corridors in the city witnessing almost 7 million sft of absorptions during the same period” – said Yogesh Shevade, Head, Industrial Services, India, JLL.

“This private equity investment is our first transaction with an institutional investor in the logistics sector which goes very well with our vision of building more international standard logistics and industrial parks in eastern India. We believe that the East has a lot of potential and our relationship with Xander would be greatly beneficial for the state in the future. JLL has proven to be one of our most valuable associate partners and has been giving us end to end solutions. We look forward to adding many such parks to our portfolio.” said Pratiik Jalan, Director, Jalan Builders.

Xander been one of the major PE investors in the warehousing asset class having an industrial real estate platform for India with a corpus of $250 million to acquire logistics assets. The transaction is also significant from the fact that Xander has firmed up its presence in India in the warehousing asset class by covering East India, in addition to being present in South and West India - following a strategy of combining its capability of providing capital, strategic relationships with large occupiers, and knowledge of global best practices to developers focused on this sector.

“As an emerging markets investor, we have always been focused on early identification of strong growth markets with great fundamentals. We were successful early investors in eastern India in the affordable housing sector in 2006, in budget hotels focused on domestic tourists in 2007, and in toll roads, including NH-34 in 2011. The acquisition of our first logistics asset in this part of India reflects our continuing commitment to emerging markets and our asset class focus at this point in the market cycle. East India is becoming a logistical hub and shall emerge as a strong consumption market and trade corridor. Warehousing has received a major impetus due to the pandemic and occupiers are focusing on flexible and resilient supply chains, proximity to customers, quicker deliveries. We thus want to provide excellent industrial assets which act as catalysts to rapid economic development”, said a Xander spokesperson.

In India, JLL has an extensive presence across 10 major cities (Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Kochi and Coimbatore) and over 130 tier II & III markets with a cumulative strength of close to 12,000 professionals. Headquartered out of Mumbai, we are India’s premier and largest professional services firm specializing in real estate. Our services cover various asset classes such as commercial, residential, industrial, retail, warehouse and logistics, hospitality, healthcare, senior living, data centre and education. For further information, please visit jll.co.in.