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Bengaluru: US-based financial services firm Fidelity Investments has renewed its lease for 300,00 sq. ft office space for its India headquarters at twice the rentals being paid currently to Xander Investment Management, said a person aware of the development.

Fidelity India has renewed the lease at Pinehurst, a commercial office building in Embassy Golf Links Business Park, which is owned by Xander.

Xander had bought the office building at Embassy Golf Links Business Park in Bengaluru in 2018 for ₹350 crore from Sanjay Ghodawat Group. The acquisition was made from Xander’s India office platform

“The new lease has been signed at about ₹150 per sq. ft. and includes certain upgrades to be undertaken at Pinehurst, to provide highest quality occupancy experience to Fidelity,” said the person mentioned above, requesting not be named.

The lease, which is for a period of 10 years, has been revised ahead of the expiry due in April 2022.

Xander and Fidelity didn’t respond to queries.

CBRE was the adviser to the transaction.

Last week, Amazon leased nearly 260,000 sq. ft in suburban Mumbai in a combination of a lease and an option to lease additional space. In October, Standard Chartered GBS leased 770,000 sq. ft in an upcoming office project in Chennai.

Xander has an office portfolio of around 7 million sq. ft. It recently made around ₹700 crore, or 2x its investment, by exiting two realty projects of Rustomjee Group in Mumbai.

Xander has committed more than $3 billion in the real estate market, including office, retail and warehousing, since it started investing in India in 2005. Its private equity arm has made investments in residential projects in Pune, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

NEW DELHI : Xander group’s private equity realty arm has bought an office complex in Pune for ₹900 crore, the company said on Thursday.

The 1.1 million square feet commercial office park is leased to diversified tenants like Maersk, WNS, Whirlpool, PTC, Nihilent, Tavisca amongst others, the company said in a statement.

The name of the seller was not mentioned.

“Through this acquisition we add a quality Pune asset with substantial growth potential, to our ongoing India Office Value-Add strategy.

“The asset nicely complements our existing, 100% owned and operated portfolio across key Indian cities, and enables us to offer a strategic Pune location to tenants” said Arpit Singh, Principal at XIM, Singapore.

XIM, headquartered in Singapore, has been actively investing in India for over fourteen years, and has acquired and/or developed over 83 million square feet across all real estate asset classes, including office, retail, industrial, budget and luxury hotels, warehousing, residential condominiums and townships.

The Xander Group Inc. is a global investment firm focused on emerging markets. Since 2005, the firm has committed more than USD 3 billion to the Indian market.

MUMBAI: Xander Investment Management, the private equity real estate arm of global investment firm The Xander Group has acquired 100% interest in Weikfield IT Citi Info Park in Pune’s Viman Nagar for $130 million or Rs 900 crore.

The 1.1 million-sq-ft commercial office park is leased to diversified tenants like Maersk, WNS, Whirlpool, PTC, Nihilent, Tavisca amongst others, Xander said in a release.

“Through this acquisition we add a quality Pune asset with substantial growth potential, to our ongoing India office value-add strategy,” said Arpit Singh, Principal at XIM, Singapore.

According to him, Xander Investment Management continues to expand its office footprint, through operating asset acquisitions and new development projects, leveraging its extensive on-ground operating expertise, tenant relationships and scale.

The asset complements Xander’s existing, 100% owned and operated portfolio across key Indian cities, and enables it to offer a strategic Pune location to tenants, the release said.

Weikfield is close to the Pune International airport, and has connectivity to prime residential, commercial and retail catchments of Pune. The office park has two five-star hotels adjacent to it.

The Singapore-headquartered Xander Investment Management firm has been actively investing in India for over fourteen years, and has acquired and developed over 83 million sq ft across all real estate asset classes, including office, retail, industrial, budget and luxury hotels, warehousing, and residential condominiums and townships.

The Xander Group Inc. has committed over $3 billion to the Indian market across private, public, credit and venture investments since 2005.

Reportedly, alternative investment firm The Xander Group has bought an office building of around 2,50,000 sq ft at Embassy Golf Links Business Park in Bengaluru for Rs 350 crore ($54.5 million) from Kolhapur-based Sanjay Ghodawat Group.

THE OFFICE BUILDING NAMED PINEHURST HAS BEEN OCCUPIED BY FIDELITY INVESTMENTS.
-a source reported.

IT IS A STRATEGIC SALE WHICH WILL HELP THE GROUP REBUILD ITS REAL ESTATE PORTFOLIO TO 2 MILLION SQ FT OF PRE-LEASED PROPERTIES IN THREE YEARS.
-Sanjay Ghodawat, chairman of Sanjay Ghodawat Group, recounted to the source.

The diversified Sanjay Ghodawat Group bought the building in Embassy Golf Links in 2003, according to the report. An email query sent to Xander Group did not elicit a response. Last December, VCCircle reported Xander Group is looking at buying alternative investment firm Blackstone Group’s two IT parks in Pune.

Rohan Sikri, the senior partner at Xander Group, told VCCircle in January that the investment firm had acquired Shriram Gateway (now Gateway Office Park), Noida Towers (now Express Corporate Park) and an asset in Bengaluru in the previous 10 months.

THE FIRM HAS INVESTED ROUGHLY RS 2,850 CRORE TO ACQUIRE THE UNDERLYING PORTFOLIO OF THESE ASSETS.
-Sikri said

Xander Group has been aggressively buying office properties of lat and has accumulated a portfolio of six million sq ft. In one of the biggest real estate transactions, The Xander Group had acquired The Gateway, a Chennai-based SEZ by South India-focussed developer Shriram Properties, for $190 million, and had committed another $160 million for its expansion.

Recently, it had also bought a mall in Mohali, Punjab, for Rs 700 crore. The deal was made through its retail arm, Virtuous Retail. Earlier, Xander had bought Express Trade Towers, a fully-leased 500,000 sq ft IT park in Noida, from IL&FS Investment Managers for Rs 300 crore.

The acquisition has been made from Xander’s India office platform and is in line with the global investment firm’s plans to expand its commercial office portfolio in the country

Bengaluru: Xander Group Inc. has bought an office building of around 250,000 sq. ft at Embassy Golf Links Business Park in Bengaluru for Rs350 crore from Sanjay Ghodawat Group.

The acquisition has been made from Xander’s India office platform and is in line with the global investment firm’s plans to expand its commercial office portfolio in the country.

The office building, Pinehurst, is fully leased out to Fidelity India.

“Xander’s office platform in India is currently valued at around $500 million and this acquisition is a good value-add to the portfolio. Xander is looking to further expand the portfolio and has a strong pipeline of acquisitions which are of course subject to due diligence,” said a person directly familiar with the transaction, who did not wish to be named.

Sanjay Ghodawat, chairman of the eponymous firm, said it was a strategic sale which now enables the firm to rebuild its real estate portfolio to 2 million sq. ft of pre-leased properties across India in the next three years, with newer assets and better financial returns.

Colliers was exclusively mandated by the Ghodawat Group to execute the sale process. A Xander spokesperson didn’t respond to queries. Sanjay Ghodawat Group, which is into businesses in sectors such as aviation, education and consumer goods, bought the building in Embassy Golf Links in 2003.

“We intend to now buy stressed office assets and regrow our real estate asset base. We want to use this capital (from the transaction) to expand our business and also to build a new portfolio of office assets,” said Shrenik Ghodawat, director, Sanjay Ghodawat Group.

Xander has been expanding aggressively for a while now, both in the office and shopping mall space. In Chennai, it currently owns a 600,000 sq. ft office building.

In 2017, Xander group and Dutch pension fund asset manager APG Asset Management NV bought an information technology (IT) special economic zone (SEZ) in south Chennai for around $350 million (Rs2,250 crore) from a joint venture of Shriram Properties’ and Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd and private equity fund SUN-AREA Property Partners.

In 2014, Xander and an investor consortium led by APG said they were setting up a $300 million venture to buy income-generating, institutional-grade commercial assets across India’s main markets. Over time, if buying opportunities continued to emerge, the venture’s size would be increased to $500 million.

In December, Rohan Sikri, senior partner, Xander Investment Management Pte Ltd, the real estate private equity arm of Xander Group, said that the firm has around 6 million sq. ft of office space in its portfolio.

“Apart from this, we have a strong pipeline of acquisitions that are currently under diligence, approximately 8 million sq. ft, where we plan to invest $350 million in the next 12 months,” Sikri had said.

India’s residential real estate business may be reeling under the effect of a prolonged slowdown, but that has not deterred global investors from investing in the office space.

Gagan Randev, national director, capital markets and investment services, Colliers International India said, “We received strong interest from a host of bidders which clearly underlines that international and domestic funds and institutions are aggressively looking at acquiring Grade A pre-leased office assets.”

Global fund house to acquire The Gateway, located at Perungalathur

In what could be the city’s largest corporate real estate deal, global fund house Xander will acquire an IT SEZ in Perungalathur, Chennai, from Shriram Properties for $350 million (₹2,300 crore). This SEZ is a part of an integrated development called The Gateway SEZ, the first such campus on the GST Road SEZ corridor.

It is a joint venture between Shriram Properties and SUN-Apollo, one of the leading real estate investors in India. SUN-Apollo has exited fully now. Shriram bought this land in 2006 from Standard Motors in a court-conducted auction.

A source who is aware of the deal said: “Xander will acquire all the assets. They are acquiring over 4.6 million sq ft. Initially, they will pay ₹1,250 crore. The remaining ₹1,050 crore commitment will happen over a period of three years.” He added, “The residential and retail component will be in the hands of Shriram Properties. The SEZ office component is what they are buying.”

Phone calls made to both Xander and Shriram Properties did not elicit any response. Another source in the real estate sector, who was involved in facilitating the deal, said, “Around 1.8 million sq ft is ready now and is operational. IT services firm Accenture is the anchor tenant here and it currently occupies over 1.1 million sq ft. It is Accenture’s primary campus in India. Xander will now start developing 1.9 million sq ft over the next few years.”

Analysts who track the real estate segment said that this deal would create a positive sentiment in the sector, which has been going through a lull. “Institutional funds investing in the market is a sign of positive growth for the IT industry,” said an analyst who wished anonymity.

The Xander Group Inc. is a global investment firm focused on real estate, infrastructure, hospitality, retail and credit in emerging markets. Since 2005, the firm has committed over $2.3 billion of capital to the Indian market across private, public, credit and venture investments.

The office park is extremely well located on the OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road), with excellent visibility, easy access and substantial frontage.

The Real Estate Private Equity arm of the global investment firm, The Xander Group Inc., has completed the buy-out of a ‘Grade A’ office park in Chennai for $US 40 million from Appaswamy Real Estates Limited.

The office park is extremely well located on the OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road), with excellent visibility, easy access and substantial frontage. The investment, financed through a judicious mix of debt and equity, adds to Xander’s growing portfolio of income generating assets in India.

Futura consists of ~570,000 square feet of constructed office space in two towers in a campus style development spread over 6 acres. Located at the heart of the OMR IT corridor, less than 1 Km away from the Sholinganallur Junction, Futura features top of the line specifications in terms of services, security, equipment and aesthetics. The office park is leased to high quality multinational tenants, including Paypal (a subsidiary of eBay) and Gamesa Wind Turbines among others. Leveraging its extensive global relationships, Xander is in advanced talks to lease the remaining space to other multinational and high quality Indian corporations.

“This transaction is in line with our strategy to build a portfolio of well-located, income yielding Indian assets. The purchase highlights Xander’s ability to identify and acquire quality assets at attractive prices, and increase underlying value through a combination of extensive asset management and a stable tenant-institutional landlord relationship”, said Rohan Sikri, Partner at Xander Investment Management Pte. Ltd., Singapore, whose team led the transaction.