Marquee global investors like UAE’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and Dutch pension fund APG have put in bids to buy Canada’s largest pension fund manager CPPIB’s 50% stake in IndoSpace Core, said sources in the know. Canadian investor Oxford Properties and Ivanhoe Cambridge, the real estate arm of Canadian pension fund CDPQ, are also in the race.
The deal is expected to be of around $700 million (Rupees 5,810 crore) and CPPIB has given the mandate to Morgan Stanley to run the sale process, sources said.
CPPIB will stay invested in IndoSpace, the parent company promoted by Southeast Asia-focused Everstone Capital and US-based Realterm.
“The portfolio has matured and CPPIB is looking to exit its investment after 6 years, and the deal is expected to get done in some time,” sources said.
CPPIB declined to comment on the matter, saying it does not comment on market rumours. Emails sent to IndoSpace, APG, Mubadala and Morgan Stanley did not elicit any response.
An Ivanhoe Cambridge spokesperson declined to comment and Oxford could not be contacted.
IndoSpace Core was formed in 2017 to focus on acquiring and developing modern logistics facilities in the country. CPPIB initially committed about $500 million in the venture.
IndoSpace Core’s portfolio consists of 50 logistics parks with 57 million sq ft of delivered or under development space, according to reports in June this year.
Indospace Core is committed to acquire 13 well-located industrial and logistics parks totalling 14 million sq ft from current IndoSpace development funds. The joint venture would acquire the first nine facilities totalling 9 million sq ft at closing, and the additional facilities within 24 months, the companies had said back then. These assets are prime industrial properties located in the top industrial and logistics hubs, including Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.
IndoSpace Core has the option to acquire additional industrial and logistics parks totalling approximately 11 million sq ft, which are being developed by IndoSpace funds and are worth around $700 million. “IndoSpace Core will also opportunistically acquire stabilised assets from third parties across India,” the companies had said.
Earlier this year, CPPIB invested over $205 million or over Rupees 1,674 crore as an anchor investor in Indospace’s new fund called IndoSpace Logistics Parks IV. IndoSpace Core also acquired Amazon’s Fulfilment Centre in Hyderabad from GMR Group earlier this year.
CPPIB’s India investments crossed Rupees 1.3 trillion in FY23. It has joint ventures with Phoneix Mills, Tata Realty and Infrastructure and RMZ for commercial properties.
Of the $4-billion investment by Mubadala in India, $1.6 billion has been deployed by the infra and real estate vertical, reports said. APG along with Godrej Properties, Xander and others has also invested in commercial properties in the country.