Track2Realty-Agencies: IDFC Alternatives, real estate arm of Infrastructure Development Finance Corp. Ltd (IDFC) has bought assets worth about Rs. 250 crore in Pune’s real estate developer Paranjape Schemes (Construction) Ltd’s Hinjewadi Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for information technology (IT) and information technology-enabled services (ITeS) firms and luxury residential space.
IDFC set up its real estate investments business in late 2010 to acquire majority ownership in leased and rent generating IT parks and SEZs located in major Indian office markets. The focus is on developments with high-quality tenants, which offer opportunity for stable yield as well as capital appreciation.
Over the last 12-18 months, real estate-focussed private equity (PE) funds have increasingly started looking at buying developed commercial assets for rental yields as well as capital appreciation in the long term. These investors typically look for properties already developed and commercial space rented out with leases of over 8-10 years.
Both the parties declined to comment to Track2Realty, but sources maintain IDFC’s real estate investments arm is buying the constructed and rented part of the SEZ. The transaction is reportedly awaiting approval from the environment and commerce ministry and is expected in a month. The money raised will be utilized for funding further development in the SEZ.
The first phase of the 2.6 million sq. ft Pune SEZ development, which has an integrated township, includes six buildings with a total built-up area of 1.4 million sq. ft.
Earlier, IDFC acquired an equity stake in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) called Galaxy Mercantile Ltd that owns a fully developed 1.36 million sq. ft IT park at Noida in the national capital region (NCR).
