Ascendas to buy out Vanenburg IT Park

Value of deal not disclosed; Ascendas appoints new hyd head

In one of the first signs of consolidation in the IT park segment in India, business space provider Ascendas Pte Ltd, a leading developer of IT parks in India, and Dutch technology major Vanenburg Group today announced that Ascendas had signed an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Vanenburg IT Park Pvt Ltd from Vanenburg Group.

Ernst & Young were the advisers to Vanenburg Group in managing the transaction. The value of the deal though was not disclosed.

Ascendas has also announced the appointment of Pang Yee Ean as the new head of its Hyderabad operations. Pang will oversee the operations and business development of new and existing IT parks in Hyderabad. He will also be incharge of the newly acquired Vanenberg IT Park.

The acquisition comes in the wake of a recent Gartner study wherein Hyderabad was rated alongside Chennai as a city that is most likely to dethrone Bangalore and Mumbai as preferred IT destinations going forward.

The acquisition is Ascendas' second project in Andhra Pradesh, following the development of Phase-I of Cyber Pearl, an IT park located in Hitec City. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

The four-year old Vanenburg IT Park, spread across 20 acres, has three multi-tenanted buildings and has a gross floor area of 8,50,000 sq ft which according to a press release enjoys 95 per cent occupancy. An estimated 7,000 employees work with a variety of IT and ITeS companies housed within the IT park.

Tenants of the park include global corporations like Cognizant Technology Solutions, Computer Associates, SSA Global, Motorola and the leading market-research company "� TNS. The master plan of the park also allows for a fourth building which is in the process of development.

The acquired park is fully equipped with infrastructure and facilities such as sophisticated building management systems, 100% emergency power back-up, central air-conditioning, modern fire protection system and security access cards programmed to meet customer requirements.

Vanenburg Group chairman Jan Baan said, "This deal would enable us to focus on our core business of building and selling enterprise software products."

S Ramanathan, managing director of Vanenburg IT Park, said, "The business of technology parks in India is poised to grow significantly and we believe that a strategic investor like Ascendas is better positioned to take this business forward and realise its full potential."

Chong Siak Ching, president and CEO of Ascendas Pte Ltd, said, "Vanenburg Park fits well with our overall strategy to have a strong presence in Hyderabad, having just completed Phase 1 of Cyber Pearl, and in India."

Consolidation mantra

• The acquisition is Ascendas' second project in Andhra Pradesh, following the development of Phase-I of Cyber Pearl, an IT park located in Hitec City
• The acquisition comes in the wake of a recent Gartner study wherein Hyderabad was rated alongside Chennai as a city that is most likely to dethrone Bangalore and Mumbai as preferred IT destinations