The Phoenix Mills Ltd has acquired an under-construction retail asset in Indore for Rs 234 crore ($34.5 million), the developer said in a statement.
Phoenix said that wholly owned unit Insight Hotels & Leisure Pvt. Ltd acquired the mall in an auction conducted by an asset reconstruction company.
The deal will add about 1.1 million sq. ft. to the company’s retail asset portfolio. The project, Phoenix MarketCity Indore, has the potential to develop about 800,000 sq. ft space, it said.
According to the company, Indore has attracted many large multinational and Indian companies including software majors. With a population of 3.8, Indore is a major consumption hub in Madhya Pradesh. Located on Agra-Mumbai National Highway, the acquired asset is in close proximity to the developing high-growth areas of Indore.
It said that, besides catering to the local micro-market, the retail site will also attract consumers from feeder towns of Ujjain, Dewas, Mhow and Sehore among others.
Shishir Shrivastava, joint managing director at Phoenix Mills, said 80% of the civil structure of the mall is complete and that it expects the mall to be operational in late 2020-21.
He added that the acquisitions of two land parcels in Pune and Bengaluru and two acquisitions in Lucknow and Indore will add about 4 million sq. ft. of retail space to the company's portfolio.
“This brings us very close to achieving our stated objective of taking our retail portfolio to 11-12 million sq. ft. from current 6 million sq. ft. We continue to explore investment opportunities and are committed to achieve this objective soon," he said.
Phoenix Mills is known for retail-led mixed use projects in India and has to its credit a portfolio of 17.5 million sq ft spread across retail, hospitality, commercial and residential asset classes.
