Ascendas launches Rs 1,000 cr IT Parks Fund

To bring two assets, ITPB & Vanenburg IT Park, into the fund

Leading business space provider, Ascendas, on Thursday announced that it is launching Rs 1,000 crore 'Ascendas India IT Parks Fund' seeded by two of its prime IT park properties.

Ascendas plans to utilise fund on matured income-generating assets with development potential and is expected to grow to Rs 2,000 crore in size over time.

As part of the fund, Ascendas will inject two choice assets - the International Tech Park, Bangalore (ITPB), which it lead-developed, and the Vanenburg IT Park (VITP), which was acquired recently and is expected to undergo an identity rebranding, said Chong Siak Ching, president and CEO of Ascendas.

The Ascendas fund is constituted in Singapore as a private trust and is expected to be a part-development and part-yield play on India's information technology parks (IT parks) sector, i.e. business parks for the IT & ITeS industry, which is a high-growth sector in India in view of the country's role as a major global outsourcing hub.

The fund has a term of seven years and is managed by Ascendas. Besides new development projects, Ascendas' other properties in India will be considered for the fund once they are deemed ready, said Chong Siak Ching.

The fund has been privately placed to select institutional investors around the world. As the sponsor of the fund, Ascendas holds a 30 per cent interest.

The remaining 70 per cent has been oversubscribed and taken up by international investors.

International investors include General Electric (GE) Commercial Finance Real Estate, a Rs 1,32,000 crore (S$50 billion) global real estate investor and an integral part of General Electric Co.

Chong Siak Ching further said, "As Asia's leading provider of business space, Ascendas' business strategy is to seed property funds with its high quality projects, co-investing with other reputed partners. The Ascendas India IT Parks Fund is consistent with this strategy, which also allows Ascendas to further develop its real estate funds management business."

"This is our first private fund since our highly successful listed trust, the Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-REIT), was launched in Singapore two years ago. In expanding our horizon overseas, we have made a good start as the confidence shown by investors such as GE Commercial Finance Real Estate is of particular significance. With this track record behind us, we hope to seal our reputation in the area of real estate funds management in Asia," she added.

Goh Kok Huat, the CEO of Ascendas India and chief operating officer of Ascendas said: "Structured as a trust, the India IT Parks Fund is an ideal vehicle for sophisticated investors to invest in real estate, both matured and development assets, in India's fast-expanding economy. As the manager, we are committed to delivering attractive yields, stable income and capital growth to investors."

"From its initial size of Rs 1,000 crore, we target to double the fund eventually to some Rs 2,000 crore. There is growth potential from planned enhancement of existing assets, leasing of recently completed space and the addition of properties that meet our investment criteria," Goh added.