In a major move for India's logistics real estate sector, Horizon Industrial Parks, a platform backed by global investment giant Blackstone, has officially initiated steps to go public. The company filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Monday, seeking to raise a substantial ₹2,600 crore (approximately $300 million) through an initial public offering (IPO).
Pre-IPO Funding and Total Fundraise Target
Prior to this formal filing, Horizon bolstered its financial position through a significant pre-IPO funding round. The company successfully secured $200 million (around ₹1,650 crore) from a consortium of prominent investors. This list includes wealth management platform 360 ONE, SBI Life Insurance, the State Bank of India (SBI), renowned investor Radhakishan Damani, EAAA, and DSP Investments, among others. When combined with the IPO proceeds, Horizon's total capital raise ambition stands at a robust ₹4,250 crore.
The proposed IPO is structured as a fresh issue of equity shares with no offer-for-sale (OFS) component, meaning existing shareholders like Blackstone are not divesting any stake at this stage. The company plans to allocate a major portion of the fresh capital—approximately ₹2,250 crore—towards repaying borrowings taken by itself and its subsidiaries. The remaining funds will be earmarked for general corporate purposes.
Blackstone's Strategic Bet on Indian Logistics
This IPO marks a significant milestone for Blackstone's industrial and logistics venture in India, a market it entered just six years ago. While logistics is one of Blackstone's largest asset classes globally, with over 1.2 billion square feet of space worldwide, its India journey in this segment began more recently compared to its established office and retail portfolios.
"Blackstone, as a real estate investor, has always scouted for good quality rental assets. Industrial and logistics is its first real estate platform in India, where it has taken on the risk to buy land and construct," noted Shobhit Agarwal, MD & CEO of Anarock Capital. This highlights a strategic shift from its traditional acquisition-heavy (inorganic) approach in India to building a greenfield platform in the logistics sector.
Scale of the Portfolio and Financial Performance
Horizon Industrial Parks has rapidly scaled up to become a key player in the market. It currently operates a pan-India portfolio spanning 60 million square feet across 46 assets in 10 cities, making it the second-largest developer in the segment after IndoSpace. Out of this total area, about 27 million square feet is already completed and operational.
Blackstone's foray into this space accelerated in December 2019 through a joint venture with Greenbase Industrial and Logistics Parks, founded by Niranjan Hiranandani of the Hiranandani Group. Since then, it has expanded through both greenfield development and brownfield acquisitions, including Embassy Industrial Parks, a 50% stake in Greenbase, and a majority stake in Allcargo Logistics' warehousing assets.
Financially, the company has shown improving metrics. For the fiscal year 2024-25, Horizon narrowed its losses to ₹131 crore from a loss of ₹140 crore in the preceding year. Simultaneously, its revenue witnessed strong growth, rising to ₹359.3 crore from ₹233.6 crore in the same comparative period.
The proposed IPO is set to be a landmark event, testing investor appetite for a pure-play logistics real estate platform in India and providing Blackstone's ambitious venture with significant capital to fuel its next phase of growth.
