The Xander Group, an institutional investment firm, is creating a platform which will invest $550 million in assets across office and industrial parks in India.
International Finance Corporation, private arm of World Bank, is planning to invest up to $20 million in equity and up to $70 million in debt to fund the platform.
Xander’s investments for this platform will be located primarily in urbanising Indian cities, including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad.
Xander is an institutional investment firm focussed on infrastructure, hospitality, retail, office, industrial, and residential projects in emerging markets. Xander’s India investment programme was founded in 2005 and has 45 employees across offices in Singapore, London, Mauritius, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai.
“The proposed project is expected to improve and facilitate access to good quality office properties for both domestic companies and MNCs by providing the infrastructure necessary to support job creation for India’s educated middle class,” IFC said in a note on its website.
The Xander Office Platform will acquire assets with a view to adding value through (a) improvements and the upgrading of fire, safety and security standards, (b) better management of properties through higher insurance standards, increased transparency in the allocation of common costs, and better management of tenants and common areas and (c) “greening” of properties by investing in technologies, materials and instituting policies as well as processes to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs, it added.
India’s office space absorption during 2015 stood at 35 million sq ft – the second-highest figure in the country’s history after 2011, according to property consultant JLL. The demand for office space in 2011 came from occupiers taking advantage of low rent after the global financial crisis. This time, however, it was the result of corporates implementing their growth plans, it added.
