Temasek, Ascendas join hands to invest $300 million in logistics business
BENGALURU: Singapore-based Ascendas-singbridge Group and Temasek Holdings Pvt Ltd have jointly committed an investment of around $300 million in logistics and industrial real estate projects in India through the Ascendas India Logistics Programme.
This comes after AscendasSingbridge, which is jointly owned by Temasek Holdings and JTC Corporation, partnered with Indian industrial real estate firm Firstspace Realty in 2017 to form the joint venture Ascendas-firstspace to deliver logistics and industrial facilities across major warehousing and manufacturing hubs in the country.
Industrial real estate is fast emerging as the go-to asset class for investors and developers, as India’s consumption and e-commerce story gets a boost from the government’s Make in India initiative and the goods and services tax.
“Given strong domestic consumption trends, investments in high-quality logistics and indus- trial facilities are necessary to support India’s economic growth in the years to come,” said He Jihong, chief investment officer, Ascendas-singbridge Group.
“We welcome Temasek’s support and investment in the programme, which will leverage Ascendas-firstspace’s global customer base and local execution capabilities to meet the needs of the future economy.”
The programme will tap into India’s growing logistics sector and invest in projects in Mumbai, the National Capital Region, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, among other places.
It aims to develop a portfolio of 13 to 15 million sq. ft of space. So far, it has two seed assets—1.25 million sq. ft of oper- ational space and more than 4 million sq. ft in development potential.
“We view the logistics and industrial sector as a good proxy to growing middle-income populations and transforming economies,” said Promeet Ghosh, managing director, India, Temasek. “The positive momentum of the sector, underpinned by the Indian government’s Make in India vision, as well as healthy consumption trends, present opportunities for us to further invest in India’s continued growth.”
India’s warehousing and logistics sector has attracted investments of more than a billion dollars in 2017 and is expected to witness higher interest i n building businesses around steady rental income.
“With its institutional backing and local execution ability, Ascendas-firstspace is the leading player in India’s logistics and industrial real estate sector,” said Aloke Bhuniya, CEO of Ascendas-firstspace. “We are excited to further strengthen our position and are privileged to have the support of AscendasSingbridge and Temasek.” A green construction is very fashionable term but it’s important to define what green construction is. In India, we don’t have any pan India regulation that lays down norms for green construction.
There is no guidance on what to follow and there is no incentive to follow green rules, or disincentive on not to follow it. In short, there is a complete lack of an ecosystem to enable going green.
We have Griha and Leed standards available but majority of these green standards only talk about norms to be followed, once after the building is ready. They generally look at how much elec- It is possible to control air pollution arising from construction activities. For instance in Dubai, you cannot produce concrete on-site. You only get RMC or ready mix concrete which is concrete produced outside the Construction itself produces noise which cannot be eliminated but definitely, reduced. When you are talking of big cities, noise is very high. Yes economy and environment can be in harmony. But this has to be seen from a much bigger level, and that is the policy maker’s level. It cannot be determined by private party initiatives because they are after all constrained by either their own limitations or vested interests.