In one the biggest acquisitions of a commercial tower by a global institutional investor in the last few years, Singapore-based Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte. Limited has acquired 0.62 million sq ft of a multi-tenanted IT SEZ building in Aurum Q Parc in Navi Mumbai for Rs 353 crore, the company said in a statement.
This is pursuant to the forward purchase arrangement with the shareholders of LOMA Co-Developers 1 Private Limited as announced on 14 May 2018. The definitive agreements for the acquisition have been executed with the vendor to acquire all of the issued share capital in LOMA 1 which owns Building Q1 for a gross consideration of approximately Rs 3.53 billion (Rs 353 crore) the company said in a statement.
Approximately 54% of Building Q1 has been leased to multinational companies such as Hexaware Technologies Limited and FirstRand Services Private Limited.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, leasing for Building Q1 is underway and the leasing momentum in Navi Mumbai is expected to recover by 2022. Additionally, deferred consideration is payable to Aurum for incremental leasing within 12 months from the date of the acquisition, the company said.
Building Q1 is the first of the two buildings covered in the May 2018 forward purchase agreement with the Vendor for the development of a 1.4 million square feet IT park campus in Aurum Q Parc.
Building Q2 is approximately 0.8 million square feet for which the occupancy certificate has been obtained and leasing commitments have been received for approximately 97,000 square feet. Additionally, a-iTrust has the right of first refusal on a third building of approximately 1.1 million square feet.
“The acquisition of Building Q1 will enable a-iTrust to gain an operating presence in the strategic IT corridor of Navi Mumbai. The property is built to high quality specifications and is in close proximity to transport networks and large corporate campuses. We expect the property’s occupancy to stabilise by 2023. We will continue to diversify and strengthen our portfolio, while maintaining our firm commitment to deliver sustainable returns to our unitholders,” said Sanjeev Dasgupta, Chief Executive Officer of the Trustee-Manager.