The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) will invest around Rs 2,650 crore (around $355 million) in a joint venture with Bengaluru-based realty firm RMZ Corp to develop and acquire commercial projects across India.
“The total aggregate capital commitment by CPP Investments into the joint venture (JV) will be up to Rs 26.5 billion (C$ 449 million), to support the development and acquisition of projects across India,” RMZ said in a statement.
The joint venture formed to construct and manage commercial office space in India's major cities, will be seeded with StarTech – a 1.37 million sq ft office building located in Koramangala, Bangalore, which is currently co-owned by RMZ and Prestige Estates. CPP Investments will acquire Prestige’s entire stake in StarTech, the statement said.
This is the second joint venture between RMZ and CPPIB, following their first joint venture formed in April 2021, when the two companies partnered to develop where CPPIB will put in $210 million (Rs 1,573 crore) for development of about 10.4 million square feet of commercial office space in Hyderabad and Chennai.
“This joint venture will provide RMZ additional opportunities to forge new strategic financial co-investments and remain ahead of the curve whilst also significantly increasing capital allocation to the core and development asset portfolios,” said Manoj Menda, Corporate Chairman of RMZ Corp.
He added, the two joint ventures together have been established to develop assets worth over $2.5 billion across cities. This partnership takes RMZ a step closer to our supercharge vision and growth strategy by 2032.”
RMZ manages a 67 million sq ft real estate portfolio, with plans to expand to 350 million square feet by 2032, the company further said.
CPPIB has exposure to different asset classes in the Indian real estate market. Back in 2017, it had set up a platform with Mumbai-listed developer The Phoenix Mills for a play in India’s retail real estate market.
In January, Mint reported that CPPIB is also in race to acquire Peak Infrastructure, a portfolio of operational road assets owned by Canadian investor Brookfield.
