| Date: |
16-04-2015 |
| Subject: |
Singapore’s GIC to acquire Shriram SEZ for Rs 860 crore |
MUMBAI: Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC is in advanced talks to acquire Shriram Group's nearly 2 million sqft IT SEZ in Chennai for Rs 860 crore ($136 million), marking its third big-ticket commercial office purchase in the last five months in India.
With this deal, GIC would have cumulatively invested about Rs 2,000 crore in buying office spaces in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai since December last year. These investments exclude GIC's commitments in the country's residential real estate market.
Big global peers Blackstone and Brookfield Asset Management bought commercial assets collectively worth over $ 2 billion in the country last year.
The almost 2 million sqft tenanted IT office space is part of the 8.5 million sqft integrated project Shriram Gateway SEZ, in which Shriram Properties and private equity fund SUN-Apollo have a 50% stake each.
About 2.5 million sqft of the overall development, which is coming up on a 58-acre land parcel, has been earmarked for residential sales. Sources cited earlier also said that HDFC Property Fund has invested Rs 310 crore to acquire Sun-Apollo's stake and as fresh capital in developing the residential part of the project. HDFC and Shriram is demerging the residential units from the office space to be acquired by GIC.
Meanwhile, JM Financial has been roped in as an interim financier to help the developer repay its Rs 400 crore loan taken for the project from Austria's Hypo Bank.
"GIC will pay Shriram Properties, Sun-Apollo, and JM Financial once the deal is clinched. If not GIC may ask JM Financial to take the lease rental discounting route to recoup its loan, while deploying Rs 400 crore as capital to further develop the park," said two of the sources citied earlier.
Repeated calls and text messages to M Murali, MD, Shriram Properties, went unanswered. GIC could not be reached for immediate comments.
Global fund house Xander had two years back given a term sheet to Shriram, but the deal didn't fructify.
In December 2014, GIC bought 39% stake in listed entity Nirlon, which owns a 3.3-million sq-ft IT park in Goregaon, Mumbai. The deal, which also includes an open offer component, is pegged at around $200 million. Last month, GIC partnered with Brigade Enterprises to jointly buy Hindustan Unilever's 100% shareholding in Brooke Bond Real Estate, which owns a 26.5 acre prime real estate SEZ asset in Bengaluru.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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