Ascendas India Trust is buying two additional industrial assets at Mahindra World City in Chennai from developer Casa Grande in a forward purchase deal.

Ascendas Property Fund Trustee, trustee-manager of the trust, said the trust would also provide funding for the development of the Phase 2 project as part of the arrangement.

On completion, expected to be in the second half of 2023, Ascendas India Trust will purchase the 310,000sqft warehouse through the acquisition of Chengalpattu Warehousing Parks, the entity developing the project.

Ascendas India said it had recently completed the acquisition of Phase I. In March, last year, Ascendas India agreed a forward-purchase deal to buy the first phase for about INR2.12bn (€27m) and also took an option to acquire the entity developing Phase 2.

Sanjeev Dasgupta, CEO of the trustee-manager said: “The full leasing of Casa Grande – Phase 1 validates our assessment of demand for industrial assets in this location.”

The proposed Casa Grande – Phase 2 acquisition provides an opportunity to increase exposure to the industrial sector and to expand the firm’s presence in Mahindra World City, a prime industrial corridor in Chennai, he said.

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