Canada's CPPIB to invest Rs 2,650 crore in JV with realty firm RMZ Corp

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) will invest Rs 2,650 crore in a joint venture with Bengaluru-based realty firm RMZ Corp to develop and acquire commercial projects across India.

RMZ Corp and CPPIB announced that they have entered into their second joint venture to develop and hold commercial office space in key cities across India.

"The total aggregate capital commitment by CPP Investments into the joint venture will be up to Rs 26.5 billion (C$ 449 million), to support the development and acquisition of projects across India," RMZ said in a statement.

Manoj Menda, Corporate Chairman, RMZ Corp said this joint venture will provide additional opportunities to forge new strategic financial co-investments and remain ahead of the curve whilst also significantly increasing capital allocation to the core and development asset portfolios.

"The two joint ventures together have been established to develop assets worth in excess of USD 2.5 billion across cities. This partnership takes RMZ a step closer to our supercharge vision and growth strategy by 2032," he added.

The joint venture will be seeded with StarTech a 1.37 million square feet Grade A office building located in Koramangala, Bangalore, which is currently co-owned by RMZ and Prestige Estates. CPP Investments will acquire Prestige's entire stake in StarTech.

Spread across 8 acres, Star Tech is a LEED Platinum-rated green building and is a premium commercial campus with 100 per cent occupancy.

This is the second joint venture between RMZ and CPP Investments. The two entities formed their first joint venture in 2021 to develop and manage approximately 10 million square feet of Grade A commercial office spaces across Hyderabad and Chennai.

Arshdeep Sethi, Senior Managing Director, RMZ Corp said, "This second joint venture builds on our existing partnership in Hyderabad and Chennai and reiterates RMZ's strategic objective to expand the Group's asset base and development pipelines across other cities."

Hari Krishna V, Managing Director, Real Estate India, CPP Investments, said, We continue to identify high demand for premium commercial office space in top city locations in India, such as Bangalore."

RMZ owns and operates a real asset portfolio of 67 million square feet, and are poised to grow to 350 million square feet of assets by 2032.