Godrej Fund to invest in 4-5 mn sq ft of office space devp

Godrej Fund Management (GFM), which received an investment of USD 150 million from Allianz Real Estate on Tuesday said it plans to deploy USD 450 million in 4-5 million sqft of office space development across key metros, a senior official said. Godrej Fund Management is a Godrej Group's real estate private equity arm.

After APG Asset Management investment of USD 150 million in GBTC-I fund in 2018, Allianz Real Estate committed USD 150 million and remaining by Godrej to the platform which took it to the full potential of USD 450 million. "We have already deployed a part of the fund in three projects with one each in Mumbai and Gurugram, totaling 2 million sqft. We will deploy the remaining in the next 12-18 months and we are looking at investment opportunities in cities like Bengaluru and Pune," Godrej Fund Management managing director Karan Bolaria told PTI here.

The company already has a current pipeline of 1.3 million square feet development in Bengaluru. GFM manages over USD 1.6 billion of capital across four funds, including two, focused on residential while two funds on the office space.

"The first fund Godrej Office Fund- I, a USD 150 million discretionary blind pool fund is intended at acquiring office and commercial properties across India for better returns. GBTC-I is more focused on creating a portfolio which we plan to hold it for a long time as our assets and not exit," he said. When asked if the company was focusing on the commercial space more, given the rising demand for office space, especially from MNCs, Bolaria said, "We intend to focus more on the office space. We will not do much on the residential front. We might soon announce another similar fund for deploying in creating a commercial portfolio." He also said that the company might explore the REITs option in the future, but the focus now is to create a portfolio of Grade A office space.

In a separate release, Allianz Group said: "this transaction marks the expansion of its real estate presence in India. This investment is part of Allianz's strategy to allocate 50-60 per cent of its real estate exposure within the Asia-Pacific to fast-growing markets such as China and 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 demographic 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..