Allianz Real Estate to invest USD 150 mn in office development platform managed by Godrej

Allianz Real Estate on Tuesday said it will invest USD 150 million (around Rs 1,067 crore) in a dedicated fund managed by Godrej group for the development of office properties. "Allianz Real Estate, acting on behalf of several Allianz companies, has committed USD 150 million to a closed-end office development platform managed by the Godrej Group," Munich-based Allianz group said in a statement.

The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with more than 92 million retail and corporate customers. Allianz Real Estate is the dedicated real estate investment manager within the Allianz Group. "This investment is part of Allianz's strategy to allocate 50-60 percent of its real estate exposure within the Asia-Pacific to fast-growing markets such as China and India," it added.

The platform, Godrej BTC (GBTC I), targets the development of premium Grade-A offices in tier one cities in India. Already, it has secured two developments, one each in Mumbai and Gurgaon, totaling 2 million square feet and has a current pipeline of 1.3 million square feet in Bengaluru. Allianz along with Godrej and a European pension manager will each own a third of the office development platform while Godrej Fund Management (GFM) will act as the investment manager. Allianz said that this transaction marks the expansion of its real estate presence in India.

In 2017, Allianz made its first investment in India by establishing an office investment platform with Shapoorji Pallonji. "We continue to believe in the long-term growth prospects of the Indian economy. Strong demographics trends and improving transparency are supporting real estate occupier as well as investor demand, in particular, the office sector, which is ideal for long-term institutional investors such as Allianz," said Rushabh Desai, Asia-Pacific CEO of Allianz Real Estate.

GFM's MD & CEO Karan Bolaria said: "our unique blend of strong development management and investment management capabilities positions us well to deliver on the opportunity to develop and manage world-class Grade - A office assets across India." Separately, GFM said in a statement that with this investment from Allianz group it has achieved second and final close of its USD 450 million office development platform.

GFM can now invest in/develop office assets worth over USD 1 billion in value. With this development, the assets under management for GFM has crossed the USD 1.6 billion mark across asset classes. APG Asset Management N V (APG) was the cornerstone investor for GBTC-I since its inception in 2018, committing USD 150 million.

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