A newly-formed 50-50 joint venture between Cushman & Wakefield and the Mumbai-based Nuvama Asset Management plans to raise $360m (€332m) for its first prime office fund to invest in India.

The Nuvama and Cushman & Wakefield Management (NCW) venture expects a first close for the PRIME Offices Fund in the next few months.

The fund aims to invest in newly built, completed and leased offices across micro markets in India’s high-growth markets. 

Mathew Bouw, CEO of Asia Pacific at Cushman & Wakefield, said: “As Cushman & Wakefield deepens its presence in the fund management space, we are delighted to partner with Nuvama to help investors capitalise on this opportunity. Our global real estate expertise, coupled with Nuvama’s local market knowledge and investment acumen, will create an unrivalled value proposition for investors.”

Ashish Kehair, managing director and CEO of Nuvama Group, said: “Commercial real estate is a direct beneficiary of India’s growth and has attracted high-quality institutional global capital.

”We are seeing growing domestic investor interest, which has, so far, remained an experimental play for most, because of paucity of well-scaled local vehicles in the pre-real estate investment trust space.”

Anshu Kapoor, president and head of Nuvama Asset Management, said: “India offices represent an enormous opportunity – doubling every decade. Global institutional investors have taken the lead and defined a successful playbook for investing in this sector.

”Domestic investors have largely remained under-allocated in this segment or participated through fragmented ownership without access to operational capabilities required to manage these real assets. ”

Anshul Jain, managing director of India and Southeast Asia and head of Asia Pacific tenant representation at Cushman & Wakefield, said: “The PRIME Offices fund will allow us to tap into the immense potential of India’s office sector and offer investors unparalleled access to diverse, high-yield real estate opportunities.

”Our deep industry knowledge, proven track record, and experienced team will provide investors with the confidence and expertise they need to succeed.”

To read the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.

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