Allianz Real Estate, the property arm of the German insurer, has partnered with pan-Asian industrial specialist ESR to create a US$1bn logistics platform in India, as part of its strategy to invest more in Asia’s growth markets.
Allianz RE and ESR will provide a combined $225m investment to kick off the platform, Allianz said in a statement.
The partnership will target develop-to-core, forward purchases, stabilised and stabilising assets across Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Delhi.
“India’s logistics sector is coming of age,” said Rushabh Desai, Asia-Pacific CEO of Allianz RE.
“The sector is benefitting from a lot of favourable trends, such as stellar consumption patterns, continued infrastructure spending, increasing transparency and the nation-wide implementation of a uniform indirect tax system.”
The agreement marks the second time that Allianz RE has collaborated with ESR in the APAC region, having previously teamed up with the firm in Japan.
The European player will now have logistics assets across China,India, Japan, and Australia.
The move into Indian logistics follows Allianz RE’s bet on the Chinese warehouses earlier this month, where it bought a 50% stake in a 375,000 sq.m. logistics portfolio located across mainland China.
Allianz RE has $67.5bn of assets under management.