CapitaLand launches SGD 525 million fund to invest in business parks

CapitaLand Investment Ltd intends to maintain a sponsor stake of 20 per cent in the fund, in line with its asset-light strategy to grow its funds under management (FUM)

CapitaLand Investment Ltd on Thursday said it has launched an SGD 525 million fund to invest in premium business parks across major cities in India.

In a statement, CapitaLand Investment Ltd (CLI) said it has "launched a business park development fund CapitaLand India Growth Fund 2 (CIGF2), with a target fund size of Singapore dollar 525 million to invest in Grade A business parks in prime locations across gateway cities in India."

CLI has secured SGD 263 million (about Rs 16.3 billion) from a global institution for a 50 per cent stake in the fund's first closing.

It intends to maintain a sponsor stake of 20 per cent in the fund, in line with its asset-light strategy to grow its funds under management (FUM).

Including CLI's equity contribution for the 20 per cent stake, the total equity commitment for the first closing is Singapore dollar 368 million (about Rs 22.9 billion).

This is expected to add approximately SGD 700 million to its FUM.

The fund has already acquired an equity stake of 70 per cent in International Tech Park Chennai, comprising 2.6 million square feet area, from CLI for SGD 95 million (about Rs 5.9 billion) as its seed asset.

CLI will continue to manage this asset after its divestment.

The new fund is CLI's second business park development fund in India since the SGD 300 million Ascendas India Growth Programme, which was closed and fully committed in 2015.

In addition, CLI has two logistics private funds in India, the Ascendas India Logistics Programme and CapitaLand Logistics Fund II, with a fund size of SGD 400 million each.

CLI has total assets under management of SGD 4 billion in India. It has over 20 IT and business parks, industrial, logistics, lodging and data centre assets across seven cities in India.

Headquartered and listed in Singapore, CLI is one of the leading global real estate investment managers with a strong Asia foothold.

As of March 31, 2023, CLI had SGD 133 billion of real estate assets under management, SGD 89 billion of real estate funds under management (FUM) and more than 30 private vehicles across Asia Pacific, Europe and the US.

Its diversified real estate asset classes cover retail, office, lodging, business parks, industrial, logistics and data centres.