Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in an article in The Tribune in India this week as Sanjeev Sharma interviewed David Blumberg CEO, Blumberg Grain. An excerpt from the article follows:

Q: What are your plans for Punjab?
A: Senior representatives of the company are visiting Punjab as well as several other states in the country, to explore propositions for establishing the manufacturing plant and export hub for Asia. The company intends to select a location for the manufacturing hub by the end of summer. We are also in discussion with potential distribution partners and customers in the state.

Q: What are the initiatives for making India an export hub?
A: We are looking forward to making India our hub for Asia to enhance food security infrastructure in both the grain and perishable value chains throughout the region. We are looking to establish a manufacturing plant and export hub in India. The Blumberg Grain Hub in India will manufacture components for scientific warehouses. Blumberg Grain will export its systems, made in India, throughout Asia.

Q: How does it synchronise with Make in India?
A: Blumberg Grain aims to make India a home country in the greater region — that is the vision of our chairman, Philip Blumberg. The Blumberg Grain manufacturing facility alone would generate over 1,000 local jobs and an estimated economic impact of $1 billion in the first year of operation in the state in which it is set up. In addition, we will source raw materials from India and help create a knowledge base and supply chain that will have a multiplier effect on local economies.

To read the full article, click here. For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

CRE Takes Note of Warehouse Boom

A new article from the Wall Street Journal titled Raising the Roof Making All the Difference in Warehouses examines the growth in the industrial market as e-commerce continues to boom, and the needs of these net-based businesses. An excerpt follows:

Real-estate firm Prologis Inc.'s latest project, a one-million-square-foot warehouse in Tracy, CA, will boast a 40-foot-high ceiling, 25% taller than the typical 32 feet. The project isn't pre-leased, making this the first speculative building of such dimension that the company has built.

Prologis executives said it is going bigger to tap into the e-commerce boom, which is changing the way industrial properties such as warehouses and fulfillment centers are built. E-commerce retailers need more space than do wholesalers that ship goods in bulk to stores, because they transport a vastly wider variety of products in much smaller batches.

"If your stapler breaks, you go online and you order a single stapler. If you're delivering to OfficeMax, you don't go into a warehouse and pull one stapler off the rack, you pull out a whole pallet of them," says Scott Lamson, president of Prologis' northwest region.

As a result, e-commerce companies need workers to pick out and pack each product by hand. They often build multiple mezzanine levels and racking systems known as "pick modules," which are typically about nine feet high. Ceiling heights of 40 feet, rather than the industry-standard 32 feet, allow a distributor to build three levels above the ground floor instead of two, and still leave room for light fixtures and fans.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Agellan Sells Odenton Warehouse for $11.3M

Agellan Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust announced this week that it had sold a 70,000 square foot single-tenant industrial building located at 8271 Anderson Court in Odenton, Maryland for $11.3 million. The property is currently fully leased to Domino's Pizza, which signed a 10-year lease this past October. Agellan did not identify the buyer of the property at 8271 Anderson Court, but said it was a "third-party purchaser", according to a Baltimore Business Journal article.

"The REIT intends to redeploy the capital from this single tenant building disposition into higher yielding multi-tenant investments with upside potential," said Frank Camenzuli, the Chief Executive Officer of Agellan Commercial REIT. The sale is consistent with Agellan's strategy of recycling capital by selling assets in certain markets that are no longer aligned with its core strategies in order to fund new investment opportunities. Agellan intends to focus on multi-tenant properties that provide enhanced diversity.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Blumberg in the News

New Dehli TV's Panel Discussion with Philip Blumberg:

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in a Miami Today article titled "Gables firm, Egypt partner for grain security" that looks into the company's progress in Africa and continued development of grain storage facilities to reduce post-harvest loss. An excerpt follows:

The company, which signed a contract with the Egyptian government late last year, is currently developing 93 wheat storage facilities across Egypt and expects the first few to be completed by the end of April, said David Blumberg, CEO of Blumberg Grain-West Africa.

He told Miami Today the facilities will process 3.7 million tons of wheat annually and store 750,000 tons, saving Egypt about $200 million a year.

"Post-harvest wheat loss in emerging markets is the primary problem for governments to solve," Mr. Blumberg said. "The loss, between harvest and first sale, is about 50% and due mainly to the lack of storage containers."

That's the ultimate goal of the Blumberg Grain project: to support the Egyptian government in recovering crops lost to post-harvest fatality.

Egypt is the world's largest importer of wheat and Africa's largest producer. However, there are numerous threats to grain in Egypt and other emerging countries, including pest attacks, rot, and theft – or what is referred to in the industry as "leakage." This leakage is often distributed to thieves' friends and family who sell the wheat on the black market.

Currently, Mr. Blumberg said, Egypt's wheat is stored in open-air storage facilities called shounas. He explained the wheat is received from farmers in bags and then stacked in piles, thus exposed to the sun and elements.

"There's a high likelihood that it will go bad due to the weather," Mr. Blumberg said. "The Egyptian pigeon is the worst pest and responsible for about 20% of the loss."

To read the full article, click here. For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Aurobindo Pharma Building NJ Warehouse

Aurobindo Pharma USA, a subsidiary of India-based Aurobindo Pharma Limited, a pharmaceutical manufacturer headquartered at Hyderabad, India, announced this week that it will be building a new manufacturing and distribution center in New Jersey. Aurobindo acquired a 90-acre tract on Windsor Center Drive in East Windsor, New Jersey; no financial information on the land purchase or the scope of the warehouse-distribution facility was released. The purchased property is located across from Route 133 and near the 43,000 square foot Patscentre building, now occupied by Novo Tech, a new Township pharmaceutical R&D company.

Mayor Mironov said of the firm's expansion, "We are excited that Aurobindo has chosen East Windsor for their new warehouse and distribution center, bringing new tax dollars and new jobs to our community. This expansion here by Aurobindo, a global corporation, represents the attraction to East Windsor of another high-tech, high growth-potential company in our Einstein's Alley corridor. East Windsor is a great location for this type of company, and we are pleased to add Aurobindo to the many pharmaceutical related firms which have chosen to locate in East Windsor, including Novotec Pharma, Hovione, Elementis, CorTech Solutions, Aprecia, Aurex Laboratories, Sabinsa, and Windsor Labs."

In a statement, Aurobindo USA's CEO Robert Cunard added, "We at Aurobindo Pharma are very excited about our recent acquisition and planned expansion into East Windsor. We have appreciated the valuable assistance and guidance of the mayor and her team, who have been great partners and extremely helpful to our company in moving forward with our acquisition and planned expansion." The new facility is expected to generate at least 300 new jobs at the East Windsor location when fully operational.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blackstone Buys German Warehouses for Logicor Unit

Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe IV announced this week that it had purchased three warehouse properties in Cologne and Düsseldorf for its European logistics company, Logicor. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the move is inline with the company's expansion strategy; in April 2013, LogiCor Chief Executive Officer Mo Barzegar told Bloomberg that the company had plans to double its portfolio through 2015 as it seeks to profit from rising rents and values.

"Europe presents a really attractive opportunity because it is a highly fragmented market in terms of ownership of real estate," he said. "There is an opportunity to create a pan- European provider of modern logistics facilities that has access to capital, can provide quality space to customers and, frankly, provides an alternative in the marketplace."

The warehouse properties are located in core logistics markets adjacent to the city centers and are 100% leased to the logistics arm of an unnamed leading German department store. This transaction is the fifth portfolio acquired in Germany over the past year and increases Logicor's overall Germany portfolio by more than 40%, taking it to 550,000 square meters.

"This acquisition substantially increases our exposure in a core European logistics market with solid long-term real estate operating and economic fundamentals," said Mr. Barzegar in a press release this week. "Our investment strategy remains focused on acquiring high-quality, well-located product that represents value-added opportunities in the short to mid-term. This is a great start for us in 2015 and we look forward to building our pan-European portfolio further over the coming months."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grian was featured in a Leadership article this week titled "Agriculture Will Lead Nigeria’s Economy In 2015" in which Olukayode Oyeleye examines the current growth in the nation's economy, and Blumberg's contribution to it. An excerpt follows:

One of the things that hallmarked the 2014 was that several meetings were held, with the Honourable Minister, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, personally presiding, to steer the direction and purposes, which ensured quick decision-making and FMARD commitments, to the benefit of the private sector. The A & I unit enhanced the credibility of the FMARD among private sector as a superior resource in agribusiness development.

Foreign companies saw through the rising profile and prospects of agricultural sector and came calling. One of them is Blumberg Grain; its total investment is estimated at about US $250 million. The project is on fast track implementation timeframe. The contribution of the unit to the first-ever piloting of an electronic warehouse receipt system with government assets, through a public private partnership was notable. The ministry has proved that so much could be done in the right direction to move the sector forward, with the private sector at the forefront. In Kebbi State, farmers experienced firsthand keys to extension of onion shelf life, including varieties, harvesting method, storage conditions (temperature and humidity control) and packaging.

To read the full article, click here. For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured this month in a Leadership Newspaper article titled Food Security Receives A Boost, As FG Launches Silo Complex, which examines cases of food insecurity due largely to storage inadequacies, in quality or quantity, leading to a substantial post-harvest wastage. During the signing of a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) between the ministry and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) on the concession of the silos, Dr. Adesina hinted that the Nigerian ministry was going to embark on concessioning and leasing of silos in conjunction with ICRC, World Bank and private stakeholders so as to effectively involve the private sector in the utilization of the excess storage space. An excerpt of the article follows:

The MoC, according to the minister, was the continuation of the process of synergy with the private sector to manage and operate silo complexes across the country. The signing of the MoC would bring the capacity utilization of the silos, which is currently less than 10 per cent, to about 100 per cent after the concession. Between the ministry and the ICRC, the roles and responsibilities of each party to the MoC towards the actualization of the proposed concession exercise would be spelt out.

The department is also collaborating with African Exchange Holdings (AFEX) Ltd. for the commencement of the pilot electronic Warehouse Receipt system in seven locations in Nigeria. The Blumberg Food safety and Security Vaults (Warehouses) are also being introduced in nine states of the federation to address post-harvest losses of fruits/vegetables, roots and tubers.

To read the full article, click here. For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

GSA Making Changes, Dropping Need for Warehousing

Tom Sharpe, Commissioner of GSA Federal Acquisition Service, posted on the agency's website that the GSA is preparing to make important changes to their business model, which could see it exit millions of square feet of warehouse distribution space. The GSA is already moving forward with the implementation of a new vision for the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), which includes a new business model for their supply business that would allow vendors to directly support GSA customers. This transformation would sidestep the GSA's existing wholesale supply business, which relies on warehouse distribution centers and retail stores around the world that stocks inventory from those warehouses.

"This model is costly, cumbersome and no longer the most efficient or effective approach to supporting our federal partners," wrote Mr. Sharpe. "This is the right time to implement these changes to GSA's supply program and they are one part of a new vision we are outlining for FAS over the next year. By working closely with our vendors, we have an opportunity to support our federal partners with the value and services they need, through a system that is suited to today's marketplace."

While it is not clear just how much of the federal government's warehouse inventory is used by the FAS, the GSA controls a total inventory of 25.56 million rentable square feet, according to a CoStar report. It leases 16.1 million square feet and owns the remainder.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

US Warehouse Market Primed for Solid 2014

According to analysis presented at the State of the U.S. Industrial Market 2013 Review and Forecast by CoStar Director of Industrial Research Rene Circ and Senior Real Estate Economist Shaw Lupton, demand for U.S. warehouse space not only exceeded expectations in the final quarter of 2013 but is poised for even stronger performance over the next 12 months with early demand and vacancy rates falling to levels not seen since the early 2000s. CoStar recorded net absorption of 58 million square feet of warehouse/distribution space within the 210 largest U.S. markets. Meanwhile, the 45 million square feet absorbed in the top 54 markets ranks as the sixth-highest quarterly reading on record -- and by far the strongest reading since the beginning of the recovery.

"Right now, we're seeing vacancies on a national level lower than the entire period of the last cycle," said Rene Circ, director of industrial research. "You have to go back to before the bursting of the Internet bubble in the early 2000s to see vacancies for U.S. industrial space below that 7.6% number."

"Modern space with proximity to population centers and a robust logistics infrastructure will dominate the industrial real estate sector in 2014," said Craig Meyer, president of industrial brokerage at JLL, who attributed 40% of current big-box industrial requirements as directly related to e-commerce -- a sector that’s growing globally by 20% annually as retailers develop new real estate models to support their omni-channel logistics models.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in a Ventures Africa article this month titled "Blumberg Grain Expands African Business Into DRC", announcing that Blumberg Grain has been contracted by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to provide grain warehousing services to its farmers after signing a similar contract with the Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture to expand the country's food security and storage. An excerpt from the article follows:

"This initial DRC order represents another important deployment of Blumberg Grain's food security storage and systems," Blumberg Grain West Africa CEO, David Blumberg said.

He noted that throughout Africa, governments emphasize the need to lower post-harvest losses in order to increase farmer incomes and boost agricultural output.

"That's a key focus of Blumberg Grain's food security systems," he said.

Philip Blumberg, CEO of Blumberg Capital Partners, said his company also looks forward to investing in processing plants, cleaning, drying and packaging facilities in the DRC."

Blumberg Grain works with private companies and countries to modernize agricultural value chains, increase the quality and marketable output of their harvests, enable efficient market timing, and significantly boost exports of agriculture products.

To read the full story, click here. For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Townsend Farms Buys Warehouse in Vineland

Vineland Development Corporation sold a 215,508 sq. ft. manufacturing and cross-dock warehouse building in Vineland, New Jersey this month for $2,100,000 according to a National Real Estate Investor article. In a deal brokered by Binswanger, Townsend Farms bought the property at 3501 South East Boulevard. Townsend Farms, which grows, processes, and delivers premium berries, plans to use the facility for processing and freezing fresh berries from local growers.

The building was originally constructed for the Rennoc Corporation as a garment manufacturing facility. A multi-million dollar renovation of the property will include raising the ceiling height in a portion of the building, adding freezer space as well as processing equipment. General Mills leases a portion of the building and will remain as a tenant.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.