Ascendas India Trust completes acquisition of Building Q1 in Aurum Q Parc at Navi Mumbai

Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte. Limited., in its capacity as Trustee-Manager of Ascendas India Trust (“a-iTrust”), is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of Building Q1, a 0.62 million square feet multi-tenanted IT SEZ1 building, in Aurum Q Parc2 at Navi Mumbai.

This is pursuant to the forward purchase arrangement with the shareholders of LOMA Co-Developers 1 Private Limited (“LOMA 1”, and the shareholders of LOMA 1, the “Vendor”) as announced on 14 May 2018. The definitive agreements for the acquisition have been executed with the Vendor to acquire all of the issued share capital in LOMA 1 which owns Building Q1 for a gross consideration of approximately INR 3.53 billion3 / SGD 64.1 million4. Approximately 54% of Building Q1 has been leased to multinational companies such as Hexaware Technologies Limited and FirstRand Services Private Limited. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, leasing for Building Q1 is underway and the leasing momentum in Navi Mumbai is expected to recover by 2022. Additionally, deferred consideration is payable to the Vendor for incremental leasing within 12 months from the date of the acquisition.

Building Q1 is the first of the two buildings covered in the May 2018 forward purchase agreement with the Vendor for the development of a 1.4 million square feet IT park campus in Aurum Q Parc. Building Q2 is approximately 0.8 million square feet for which the occupancy certificate has been obtained and leasing commitments have been received for approximately 97,000 square feet. Additionally, a-iTrust has the right of first refusal on a third building of approximately 1.1 million square feet.

1. Information Technology Special Economic Zone.
2. Aurum Q Parc was formerly referred to as AURUM IT SEZ.
3. Excludes transaction expenses; gross consideration is subject to working capital adjustments on completion of the transaction.
4. Based on an exchange rate of SGD 1 : INR 55.0.

Mr. Sanjeev Dasgupta, Chief Executive Officer of the Trustee-Manager said, “The acquisition of Building Q1 will enable a-iTrust to gain an operating presence in the strategic IT corridor of Navi Mumbai. The property is built to high quality specifications and is in close proximity to transport networks and large corporate campuses. We expect the property’s occupancy to stabilise by 2023. We will continue to diversify and strengthen our portfolio, while maintaining our firm commitment to deliver sustainable returns to our unitholders.”