Welspun One's promoters, the Welspun Group, is looking to exit or sell a part of its stake in the logistics and asset management firm, with the process reaching the bidding stage, sources told Moneycontrol, adding bids are in the range of $100 million-$120 million.
The transaction, once completed, is expected to be one of the first general partner-level alliances in the private equity space, sources said.
The sources said bids have come in from entities such as Kotak's private equity arm, Asia-focused fund PAG, Temasek-backed CapitaLand (Ascendas-Firstspace) and Keppel Land, Starwood Capital Group, Partners Group, and Hillhouse Investment. The bidding process is expected to be finalised by the end of the month, they added.
It is not clear if the promoters will exit Welspun One or retain a stake, sources said.
Moneycontrol reported in December that the Welspun Group promoters, led by BK Goenka, were in talks with investors to monetise their stake at the GP level, either fully or partly.
The management, led by co-founder and managing director Anshul Singhal, is expected to continue to lead the firm after the winning bidder takes over, the sources added.
While Welspun One and PAG refused to comment, Moneycontrol is yet to get a response from other bidders and the story will be updated when they respond.
"This process signals a shift towards greater institutional participation in logistics and industrial real estate," an industry observer said.
Several bidders in the process already have a strong presence in India across private equity, real estate, and infrastructure and their interest underscores the rising institutional capital inflow into India's logistics and industrial sector. “For Welspun One's domestic investors, this process would provide them with international exposure,” the observer said.
Welspun One has fully deployed its second fund, which raised Rs 2,275 crore.
The firm has started the process to raise Rs 4,000 crore for its next phase of expansion, with its warehouse portfolio reaching 22 million square feet. Welspun One plans to increase its assets under management to $1 billion by 2026.
The firm is also exploring new asset classes such as data centres and premium office spaces. Its World Trade Center Thane is a combined warehousing, retail and office development project in which around Rs 800 crore will be invested.
The firm’s other major project is a warehousing space at the JNPA SEZ in Navi Mumbai. With a Rs 2,700 crore investment, it is the largest single-location Grade-A warehousing space in India.
India's warehousing space is attracting significant overseas capital as e-commerce and manufacturing sectors grow. Multiple major deals over the past few years have been executed through outright purchases or platform deals.
Blackstone and ESR have been key movers in the space. Blackstone manages a part of its India warehousing portfolio through its Horizon Industrial Parks platform and has also set up Greenbase Industrial and Logistics Parks in collaboration with the Hiranandani Group.
Over the past year, one of the largest real estate transactions was also in the warehousing space, with KKR and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) investing nearly Rs 13,000 crore in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd's warehousing assets.
In December, Hillhouse's Indian operating partner Alta Capital bought 2.5 million square feet of warehousing space from CPPIB-backed IndoSpace for $100 million.
Disclosure: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
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