Hyderabad: Ascendas India to acquire aVance 6 SEZ building for Rs 506 crore

HYDERABAD: Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust), a property trust set up by Singapore-based real estate player CapitaLand Ltd, is acquiring Phoenix Group’s aVance 6 IT SEZ building in HITEC City for a consideration of Rs 506 crore (SGD 92 million approx).

The property has a total floor area of about 6.4 lakh sq feet with over 98% of the space being leased to Amazon Development Center (India) Pvt Ltd.The definitive agreement for the deal was inked by Singapore-based Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte Ltd, which is the trustee-manager of Ascendas India Trust, with Phoenix IT Infrastructure India Pvt Ltd.
Commenting on the proposed acquisition, Sanjeev Dasgupta, CEO, Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte Ltd, said, “The proposed acquisition provides a-iTrust an opportunity to scale up presence in HITEC City and will add Amazon as a tenant to its IT park portfolio.”
He pointed out that the improving connectivity and enhancement work being carried out at aVance project in HITEC City would benefit its tenants in the future. “We have already started seeing some leasing traction, with a large US based MNC having executed a Letter of Intent to lease aVance 5, which is currently under construction,” he explained.
The latest deal marks the fifth Phoenix Group IT SEZ building to be acquired by a-iTrust. While in February 2012 a-iTrust acquired aVance 1 and 2, spread across a total area of nearly 4.28 lakh sq feet, it went on to acquire aVance 3 spread over nearly 6.83 lakh sq ft in July 2015. It followed this up with the 3.9 lakh sq ft aVance 4 in April 2017.The a-iTrust is one of the six real estate investment trust (REITs) owned and managed by diversified Singapore-based real estate player CapitaLand Ltd, which had a global portfolio worth nearly SGD133 billion as at September 30, 2020.
Ascendas India Trust, which was the first Indian property trust to be set up in Asia and was listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd (SGX-ST) in August 2007, had assets under management worth over SGD2.1 billion as at December 31, 2020.