Welspun One Logistics Parks (WOLP), an integrated fund and development management platform focused on warehousing and industrial real estate, plans to raise Rs 2,000 crore for its second fund, including a Rs 1,000 crore green shoe option.

This is India's largest alternative investment fund (AIF) for the warehousing and logistics sector.

WOLP Fund 2 has a pan-India development plan with a total development target of 8-12 million square feet based on opportunities in tier I and tier II cities, as well as in-city projects in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore.

“The warehousing industry is now a fully integrated priority sector in India that contributes to the $1 trillion economy. Owing to the country’s favourable policy changes, this resilient asset class has drawn significant interest from national investors. Welspun One is the only warehousing platform to permit domestic capital to be invested in the Indian warehousing growth story,” said Balkrishan Goenka, Chairman, Welspun Group.

Welspun One Logistics Parks Fund 2 is the successor to WOLP Fund 1, a SEBI-regulated AIF for domestic investors that was launched in 2021. WOLP Fund 1 raised Rs 500 crore from a group of high-net-worth investors that included well-known individuals and family offices.

“Our strong performance in WOLP Fund 1 has encouraged us to plan our second fund on a larger scale allowing domestic investors to be part of this exciting asset class which has already attracted $5-6 billion of foreign institutional capital,” said Anshul Singhal, Managing Director, Welspun One Logistics Parks.

Within nearly 1.5 years of its initial close, the first fund delivered strong performance with a track record of 100% commitment across a portfolio of six investments totaling approximately 6.5 million square feet. The first fund's investment portfolio has gained traction, with roughly half of it expected to be physically delivered, leased, and operational by the middle of 2023.

According to Singhal, with real estate investment trusts (REITs) taking centre stage, the fund goes a step further by allowing investors to participate throughout the asset creation cycle.

The first fund was fully deployed across six investments in five cities: Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), National Capital Region (NCR), Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad and Lucknow

Within nearly 1.5 years of its initial close, the first fund delivered strong performance with a track record of 100% commitment across a portfolio of six investments totaling approximately 6.5 million square feet. The first fund's investment portfolio has gained traction, with roughly half of it expected to be physically delivered, leased, and operational by the middle of 2023.

According to Singhal, with real estate investment trusts (REITs) taking centre stage, the fund goes a step further by allowing investors to participate throughout the asset creation cycle.

The first fund was fully deployed across six investments in five cities: Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), National Capital Region (NCR), Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad and Lucknow

The platform raises, invests, and manages capital on behalf of its investors in warehousing and industrial real estate. It also handles the real estate side of the business internally, including approvals, master planning and execution, leasing, and project management. Through land acquisition, leasing, development, and sale of completed assets, the platform provides its investors with access to full cycle returns.

It recently launched the WOLP investor portal, a first-of-its-kind offering in the real estate private equity space that gives investors online access to detailed information on their portfolio assets and performance.

According to a recent Knight Frank study, a sustained rise in demand driven by accelerating manufacturing investments, aggressive e-commerce expansion, and the growth of third-party logistics (3PL) companies has helped warehousing rentals rise across India's key logistics property markets.

The rise in rental values has propelled Indian cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) into the top ten logistics markets in Asia Pacific, based on performance in 2022 and a promising outlook for 2023.