Chennai-based real estate developer Olympia Group has formed a joint venture with US private equity firm Apollo Global to develop an IT park in the city.
Olympia Cyberspace, the real estate firm’s commercial vertical, will develop an IT park of around 1.1 million square feet in the central point of the city, a report in The Financial Express stated.
The global alternative investment firm has picked up 49% stake in the special purpose vehicle and will infuse Rs 104 crore initially to kick-start the process.
“The ongoing demand for office space in the city has prompted the development of the IT park. The project will have a total investment of about Rs 750 crore and is expected to generate employment for 12,500 IT professionals directly, apart from indirect employment,” Ajit Kumar Chordia, managing director, Olympia Group told the business daily.
Olympia Group, which is present across Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, develops commercial, residential and industrial real estate projects. It claims to have developed over 2,000 homes and over 5 million square feet since its inception in 2004.
Some of its commercial projects include Olympia Tech Park, Olympia Platina and Olympia Technos, among others.
Apollo Global has had a substantial exposure to the Indian real estate market in the last few years. It had backed a bunch of projects of Noida-based developer Logix Group over a period of three-four years. It has exited those investments.
Last year, a report in business daily Mint stated the alternative investment firm acquired JPMorgan Asset Management’s $300 million real estate portfolio in India as its new fund manager and general partner.
JPMorgan’s real estate fund management platform had 15 investments across five cities, according to the report.
Last year, VCCircle reported that JP Morgan had decided to halt real estate investments in India.
Apollo Global Management LLC has raised the largest ever private equity fund, a regulatory filing showed, amassing $24.6 billion to be invested in North America and Western Europe, as global fundraising looked set to exceed 2007's record.