Adani Ports to buy 10mn sq ft of warehousing assets every year till 2026.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. (APSEZ) is looking to buy as much as 10 million square feet (sq ft) of warehousing assets every year as India’s largest private port operator bets on the e-commerce boom to raise capacity 150 times to 60 million sq ft by 2026 from the current 8 lakh sq ft.

Adani Logistics Ltd, a unit of APSEZ, will use a mix of organic and inorganic opportunities to sail into a dominant position in the segment.

The conglomerate led by Gautam Adani plans to add 30 million sq ft through greenfield development of warehouses leveraging its existing land parcels of 1,850 acres across top 20 cities in India, while about 30 million sq ft (16 per cent of Grade A market capacity) will be added through acquisition of strategic assets in the top 20 markets, according to a presentation seen by BusinessLine.

About 60 per cent of the 30 million sq ft of in-house developments will come from existing land assets and the balance will be built by acquiring additional land.

Of the 30 million sq ft of inorganic growth, 10 million sq ft will be added across 15 locations that are in or near to tier 1 and 2 cities.

“We are foraying into suite Grade A warehousing, which is our next focus area of growth. Our warehousing business is slated to grow 150 times in the next five years with superior returns to the stakeholders. With these portfolio growth objects, we will charter a new course for the future of APSEZ,” Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer, APSEZ said during an analysts call.

“We are looking at roughly 7 to 10 million sq ft of acquisition every year,” Karan Adani said. Warehousing will complement the existing APSEZ transport utility chain, he added.

HBL