Singaporean sovereign fund GIC has emerged as the highest bidder for ‘Waverock’ office complex in Hyderabad by quoting Rs 2,200 crore, a source said.
GIC has outbid investors such as Singapore’s Mapletree and Canadian investor CPPIB, who were also in the race to buy the 2.4-million-sq-ft property.
The property is owned by a joint venture between Shapoorji Pallonji Investment Advisors (SPIA), the real estate investment arm of Shapoorji Pallonji group, and Allianz Real Estate, an arm of German insurer Allianz group.
Incidentally, in 2019, GIC and its JV partner Tishman Speyer sold the same property to SPREF II, which is a JV between Allianz and Shapoorji Pallonji for $250 million (about Rs 1,780 crore).
Emails sent to Shapoorji Pallonji Investment Advisors and GIC did not elicit any response.
Though the JV partners tried to sell the asset earlier this year, it did not go through with it due to the buyer-seller mismatch in expectations, sources said.
Completed in 2017, Waverock comprises four office towers and is located in the Gachibowli financial district, a high-growth IT hub. It was leased to marquee tenants like Apple, Tata Consultancy Services and Accenture.
In 2017, Allianz Group partnered with Shapoorji Pallonji Group to set up a $500-million real estate fund — SPREF II — to invest in commercial office properties in the country.
GIC has been quite active in the Indian real estate market in the last couple of years.
In November last year, GIC floated a $600-million JV with Asia Pacific-focused real estate services and investment company ESR Group to acquire income-producing core industrial and logistics assets in country.
In June 2021, it partnered with mall developer Phoenix Mills to establish a $733-million (about Rs 5,362-crore) investment platform for retail-led mixed-use assets in the country.
It also has JVs with DLF for residential and office developments. Last year, with its partner Ashwin Seth group, it sold Viviana Mall to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority-backed Lake Shore India Advisory for over Rs 1,900 crore.