Godrej Fund Management puts two assets on the block
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Godrej Fund Management, the real estate private equity firm of Godrej Group, has put two of its key investee assets including commercial properties in Mumbai’s business district Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) and in Thane on the block, said persons with direct knowledge of the development.
These marquee properties include a total of 200,000 sq ft office space spread across three floors in commercial project Godrej BKC and an information technology park project G: Corp Tech Park in Thane’s Ghodbunder Road area.
Both the properties are estimated to fetch around Rs 1,500 crore in total based on the current office property rates in these locations.
“Both the properties are amongst the Godrej Fund Management’s early investments and have performed well in terms of returns through lease rentals so far as these are the best assets in their locations. It is now looking to exit these assets in line with its strategy for the initial fund,” said one of the persons mentioned above.
The fund has already invited bids for these assets and the process is expected to be concluded soon.
Godrej BKC, spread over a total 1.3 million sq ft, was developed by Godrej Properties along with Jet Airways. The aviation company had acquired the 2.5-acre land parcel from Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in a public auction for nearly Rs 400 crore in 2006.
The developer later sold the part of the commercial tower to pharmaceutical major Abbott. The office building is currently strata-owned by Abbott, Brookfield Group, Jet Airways, ICICI Pru Life and the DeDecor Group.
Godrej Fund Management-owned three floors are currently leased to entities including global financial major the Carlyle Group, oil refining company Nayara Energy, and alternative investment firm Investcorp at an average lease rental of over Rs 330 per sq ft.The project G: Corp Tech Park was built in 2010 by realty developer G Corp and was later acquired by New Vernon Capital. Godrej Fund Management acquired the same in 2018 from New Vernon for around Rs 400 crore.
The project has a total built-up area of around 750,000 sq ft with a floor plate of 70,000 sq ft. It has total leasable space of over 600,000 sq ft and is completely leased and occupied at present. It counts Aditya Birla Group and Convergys among its largest tenants with average rentals of around Rs 65 per sq ft.
This was one of the early assets Godrej Fund Management picked up when it started investing in office projects around 4.5 years ago.
ET’s email query to Godrej Fund Management remained unanswered until the time of going to press.
Across five investment platforms, the fund has made over 15 investments across its four key property markets of India and has over 15 million sq ft space under management.
The fund counts global institutional investors like Allianz Real Estate apart from Dutch pension fund manager APG Asset Managements among its partners. APG has partnered GFM in four funds across residential and office segments.
Godrej Fund Management used to be part of Godrej Properties but was later shifted under the Godrej Group directly.