CapitaLand Investment Trust, a subsidiary of Singapore-headquartered CapitaLand Investments Ltd, said Friday it has completed the first phase of acquisition of an IT park located in a special economic zone in Pune’s Hinjewadi.
The acquisition of the project, Blueridge 3, was announced in June 2019, when the IT park project was under construction. Singapore-listed CapitaLand Investment Trust, then Ascendas India Trust, signed a forward purchase agreement with Nalanda Shelter Pvt Ltd and Brickmix Developers Pvt Ltd to acquire the IT park project.
The project was to be developed in two phases, with a net leasable area of 1.8 million square feet, comprising two office buildings and a cafeteria block.
For the first phase, CapitaLand acquired phase 1 of the project comprising an office and cafeteria block for about Rs 773 crore, or about $93 million.
About 60% of the office buildings acquired under this phase have been rented out to tenants such as Panasonic Avionics, Aptiv Components, Forvia, Axtria, Cerence Services, Plastic Omnium and Wurth Information Technologies.
“The acquisition of BlueRidge 3 Phase 1 will strengthen our presence in Hinjawadi, one of Pune’s prominent IT markets,” said Sanjeev Dasgupta, the chief executive of CapitaLand India Trust Management Pte. Ltd.
“It will offer our tenants ample space for future expansion, while providing their employees with a work-live-play environment within the BlueRidge township. The upcoming metro in Hinjawadi and international airport at Navi Mumbai will further enhance connectivity and fuel demand from companies seeking a well-located base," he said.
Following this acquisition, the total completed floor area of the trust’s portfolio has increased to about 21 million square feet. The trust’s portfolio now comprises three business parks in Pune including International Tech Park Pune Hinjawadi, aVance Hinjawadi, Pune and BlueRidge 3 Phase 1.
As of December, the Singapore-listed trust’s assets under management were valued at about S$3 billion. Its overall portfolio includes nine IT business parks, three industrial facilities, one logistics park and four data centre developments in India.
Among its latest investments in India, CapitaLand last month signed a forward purchase agreement with Casa Grande Group to acquire three industrial facilities with a total net leasable area of 0.79 million square feet in Chennai’s OneHub for about Rs 268 crore. This includes partial funding for land acquisition and the total cost for asset development.
The transaction will be completed in three phases, with the first phase of the acquisition to be completed by the first half of 2025.