Singapore’s Ascendas-Singbridge has entered into an agreement to pre-purchase two office buildings in the Indian city of Mumbai for around INR9.3bn (€115.6m).
The fund manager has acquired the asset for its Ascendas India Trust, which first invested in India more than a decade ago.
Ascendas-Singbridge, which is majority-owned by state-owned Temasek, said that it will acquire the two buildings, which offer 1.4m sqft in the AURUM IT Special Economic Zone, located in Navi Mumbai.
The first building is due for completion in the second half of this year and the second in early 2020.
Under a forward-funding arrangement, Ascendas India Trust will provide INR5.01bn in construction funding in the form of debentures to the co-developer of the two buildings.
AURUM IT SEZ consists of four IT buildings within the mixed-use AURUM PLATZ IT Park development of Navi Mumbai.
Ascendas India Trust has first right of refusal on the remaining two buildings.
Sanjeev Dasgupta, Ascendas India Trust’s CEO, said the proposed acquisition of the two buildings marks the trust’s first foray into the IT Park business in Navi Mumbai, an important market for large multi-national corporations.
“The acquisition will further diversify our portfolio, and is expected to contribute positively to the financial performance of the Trust.”
The trust currently holds a portfolio of seven IT business parks and six modern warehouses, offering operating space of 12.8m sqft.
