Varde Partners to acquire two commercial assets in NCR at over Rs 1,000 crore

NEW DELHI: US-based Varde Partners is in talks with New Vernon Capital to acquire two commercial buildings in Gurugram and Noida, three persons with direct knowledge of the deal said.

The deal is expected to be worth more than Rs 1,000 crore, with the complex in Gurugram’s Udyog Vihar costing Rs 600-700 crore.

The buildings together have about one million square feet of space, with over 90% of it occupied.

“New Vernon Capital is looking to exit from both these properties,” said one person familiar with the matter.

According to a report by property consultant JLL, India’s real estate market attracted $235 million in capital in the third quarter of 2020, growing by 52% quarter-on-quarter.

India’s real estate sector is expected to draw $4.8 billion of capital this year, representing an 8% decline from 2019’s total transaction volume of $5.3 billion.

New Vernon Capital did not respond to text messages and email.

“We will decline to comment on the specific deal, but I can confirm that Varde remains active in the Indian real estate market,” a spokesperson for the company said.

Varde opened an office in Mumbai in 2018 and has invested over $1 billion so far in India.

It recently acquired office building Lodha Excelus, in New Cuffe Parade (Mumbai) from the Lodha group.

“Every transaction for income producing assets at this time will set a new benchmark because it is a reflection of the evolving maturity of the commercial real estate market. There is a dearth of good income producing assets in north India, in comparison with the south and west,” said Anckur Srivasttava, chairman of real estate advisory firm GenReal Property Advisers.

According to JLL, investors are most attracted to the country’s office sector, with interest remaining strong throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and the partial relaxation of the lockdown.

Concurrently, global investors actively sought asset portfolio opportunities, with two landmark portfolio transactions amounting to a total of $3.6 billion in investment value likely to be concluded in the ongoing fourth quarter.

The review of investments in the first nine months of 2020 reveals that out of the $1.2 billion investments, Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai together accounted for 71% share.

Bengaluru led the pack with 33% share of real estate investments.