Arcapita Capital Company, a subsidiary of Arcapita Group Holdings Limited, announced on Wednesday the closing of KSA Logistics Fund III for SAR1.8 billion ($500 million), with participation from a leading sovereign wealth fund from the GCC region and other major institutional investors.

Arcapita has already deployed a substantial amount of the fund in a sizable portfolio of industrial real estate assets across the manufacturing and warehousing sectors.

Over the coming months, the firm expects to execute on a pipeline of further assets situated in strategic locations across Riyadh, Jeddah, and the Eastern Province. Arcapita will also take a built-to-suit approach, whereby properties will be developed with long-term off-take arrangements with tenants, it said.

This fund further demonstrates Arcapita’s strategy of bringing the firm’s international expertise in industrial real estate to the Kingdom’s industrial sector and support its ambitions of becoming a global logistics hub, it added.

Hisham Al Raee, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Arcapita Group, said: “Today marks an important milestone in our strategic expansion in Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the MENA region. We currently manage over SAR3.8 billion ($1 billion) of industrial warehousing assets in KSA and the GCC region, and our investor base includes pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and financial institutions. The industrial and logistics sectors are key components of the Kingdom’s Global Supply Chain Resilience Initiative, which aims to attract SAR 40 billion ($10.6 billion) in investments. We look forward to continuing to deploy our expertise in the industrial real estate sector to play a key role in transforming the Kingdom into a global logistics hub.”

Yousif Al Abdulla, Managing Director and Head of MENA Investment at Arcapita Group, also stated: “We expect Saudi Arabia’s industrial real estate market to experience substantial growth over the long term, driven by the significant and continued growth of e-commerce across the Kingdom and by strong government-led investment in infrastructure and the industrial sector. Arcapita Group’s portfolio strategy will leverage opportunities presented by the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program, as well as the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 plan.”

Arcapita Group’s management team has managed more than SAR24.3 billion ($6.5 billion) in industrial and logistics real estate transactions globally, including over SAR5.6 billion ($1.5 billion) in the GCC region, over the past 25 years. Furthermore, Arcapita Group has a strong track record of investing in the Kingdom, with nearly SAR1.5 billion ($400 million) in investments over the past 10 years.