The private equity arm of Indiabulls Asset Management Company Ltd has partnered with InterGlobe Real Estate Ventures Ltd to buy a commercial tower in Gurugram for around Rs 200 crore ($31 million) from real estate firm Hines India Ltd.
Mint reported that Indiabulls, through its maiden commercial real estate fund Indiabulls Dual Advantage Commercial Assets Fund, had tied up with the real estate arm of conglomerate InterGlobe Enterprises Ltd to acquire a 2,40,000 sq ft. building in Sky View Corporate Park.
“This is our first investment in the commercial office space and we are extremely keen and focused on this space and plan to conclude more such deals over the next six months,†the report quoted Indiabulls AMC's chief executive officer Ambar Maheshwari as saying.
Two buildings are part of the first phase of the project, which is spread over 21 acres. The investor duo has acquired one of these buildings. Hines has so far developed a fifth of the project's total potential of 2.5 million sq ft .
The report added that Indiabulls AMC aims to pump in more than Rs 1,000 crore in commercial real estate in the next 12 months.
Indiabulls PE had launched its maiden commercial fund last year with a target corpus of Rs 1,500 crore. The firm had said that it would invest in completed, rent-yielding assets for stable income and capital appreciation.
The company also manages a residential real estate-focused fund that has a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore.
InterGlobe Real Estate started operations last year. Currently, the business manages the real estate portfolio and funds of the parent company. It aims to participate in a combination of greenfield, brownfield and ready assets pan-India.
Hines India, the local unit of the US-based real estate firm, entered India’s commercial realty segment in 2006. It has two projects in its India kitty.
While the residential market is still under pressure, there have been several deals in the commercial space in the last few quarters.
On Thursday VCCircle reported that Ascendas Firstspace Development Management Pvt. Ltd, a joint venture of Singapore’s Ascendas-Singbridge Pte Ltd and Indian industrial developer Firstspace Realty LLP, had bought a logistics park near Chennai in what is its first known acquisition since it was set up last year.
According to a recent report by real estate consultancy firm ANAROCK Property Consultants, the commercial-IT and retail asset classes saw a healthy upsurge of PE investment inflows in 2017. It added that the government’s recent move to allow 100% foreign direct investment in single-brand retail through the automatic route, while at the same time relaxing sourcing norms, will work as a catalyst for investment inflows in these asset classes.
“Also, the first REIT [Real Estate Investment Trust] listings are likely to happen in the upcoming months of 2018. The REITs route will infuse substantial liquid inflows into the commercial real estate asset class which, in turn, will improve the execution capacity of developers focused on this sector,†it said.
