Nuvama-Cushman fund buys out Keppel's Chennai office campus for Rs 2,550 crore

The office campus bought by the PRIME Offices Fund in Chennai

Nuvama and Cushman & Wakefield's PRIME Offices Fund has bought a 2.4 million sq ft office campus in Chennai’s Porur for Rs 2,550 crore from Singaporean asset manager Keppel, the fund managers said on September 25.

This is the largest trade in this space by a domestic fund, the managers said. The acquisition follows the fund's purchase of a Delhi office space from Kotak Alts for around Rs 750 crore.

Keppel is backed by Temasek Holdings, one of the government investment companies of Singapore.

The PRIME Offices Fund had a targeted corpus of Rs 3,000 crore, which has now been raised to Rs 4,000 crore, following "excellent" investor response, the fund managers said. It announced its first close of Rs 1,700 crore in January.

Nuvama and Cushman & Wakefield Management Ltd (NCW), which manages the PRIME Offices Fund, said in a release that the campus, which is LEED Platinum-certified, has a number of occupiers, including global capability centres, as well as Indian software firms.

“This second acquisition under PRIME is a strong validation of our strategy and execution. With this, we’re reinforcing our commitment to building a portfolio that reflects the evolving priorities of global occupiers: sustainability, agility, and institutional-grade quality," said Gaurav Puri, chief investment officer of NCW.

Chennai continues to attract deep occupier interest, especially from GCCs, and Porur stands out as a micro-market with long-term fundamentals, he said. "As we expand our footprint, our focus remains on high quality ‘offices-of-the-future’ that meet the expectations of our investors and set new benchmarks for commercial real estate in India," he said.