Welspun One Logistics Parks raises Rs 500 Cr in initial close of 2nd AIF

Welspun One Logistics Parks (WOLP) on Monday said it has successfully concluded the initial close of its second Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), WOLP Fund 2, raising Rs 500 crore in eight weeks.

WOLP Fund 2 was launched in March and aims to raise a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore, including a green-shoe option of Rs 1,000 crore, the company said in a statement.

The sum of Rs 500 crore was raised from domestic high net worth and family office investors, it said and added that the speed of the fundraise underscores the strong investor confidence in both, the Welspun One platform and the prospects of the warehousing and industrial sector in India.

"We have witnessed an exceptional investor response, as the first round of WOLP Fund 2 successfully closed at Rs 500 crore within an 8-week timeframe, which is a record of sorts in the alternative investments space," said Anshul Singhal, Managing Director at Welspun One Logistics Parks.

Along with project-level debt, this is expected to give the fund enough dry powder to invest in projects which entail an outlay of over Rs 6,000 crore, the company said.

Fund 2 is the successor to WOLP Fund 1, introduced in early 2021, which has since been fully committed across a portfolio of six projects pan-India aggregating to 6.5 million square feet of grade A warehousing and industrial space, it said.

Fund 1 has also delivered an impressive track record with over 50% of the Fund 1 portfolio close to being leased and physically delivered within a short span of two years, WOLP said.

It also said that Fund 2 will further add 10-12 million square feet of new projects to this footprint, taking Welspun One's total portfolio to 16-18 million square feet over the next 4-5 years.

Warehousing has been an exciting, high-growth sector which has attracted the attention of investors over the past 2-3 years, especially through COVID-19 where warehousing demand grew exponentially on the back of a spike in ecommerce penetration, the company said.

Post-COVID-19, demand continues to grow fuelled by multiple growth engines including consumption growth (ecommerce and brick and mortar) and manufacturing.