Xander acquires 31-acre Logistics Park in Bengal

A Singapore-based alternative investment company, Xander Group, has acquired a 31- acre logistics park in Bagnan located in West Bengal's Howrah district. The 800,000 sq ft logistics park on NH-6 (Kolkata – Mumbai Highway), about 55 km from Kolkata, around 50% is leased to e-commerce major Flipkart while the balance area is under construction. The Park is being developed by Kolkata-based Jalan Builders and that the investment is part of Xander's $250 million industrial platform, which is advised by its private equity real estate arm Xander Investment Management. Property consultant JLL was the transaction adviser to the deal. The acquisition is part of Xander's plan to grow its footprint in east India, with Kolkata positioned as the gateway to the eastern and north-eastern consumption markets. The region is attractive to e-commerce firms due to the relatively low penetration of organized retail. Before this, Xander leased around 1.1 million sq ft of warehousing space to eCommerce firms Amazon India and Walmart-owned Flipkart in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra. According to market watchers, nearly one-fourth of the total warehousing space in India has been leased by e-commerce companies such as Flipkart and Amazon in 2019-20 and this is expected to accelerate as recently, Flipkart acquired 140 acres of land in Manesar to set up its fulfilment centre. Flipkart has several fulfilment centres in West Bengal and is also building an integrated logistics hub in Haringhata, about 80km from Kolkata, which is expected to open later this year.