Ascendas signs deal with Arshiya Group, will acquire warehouse in Delhi-NCR

Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte. Ltd (trustee-manager of Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust) has concluded a deal to buy a warehouse of the Delhi based logistics and supply management service provider -Arshiya Group. Ascendas in a statement said that the deal includes an amount of INR 22.9 crore with an additional deferred payment of INR 72.1 crore which is termed based on performance over the next four years.

Located in the Delhi-NCR region –Khurja, the warehouse has a total floor area of 0.2 million sq ft and is a part of a Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) –spread over 127 acres of freehold land. The warehouse of Arshiya Group has attracted firms including CFM Aircraft Engines, Corning and ZTE amongst others.

An affiliate of Arshiya Group will sign the agreement with a-iTrust to lease the warehouse for six years. In a statement, a-iTrust said that the vendor will pay the agreed rental amount to it and will continue to manage and operate the warehouse.

This is the third agreement between the Arshiya Group and Ascendas. In the earlier two deals, Ascendas had acquired land to develop a warehouse in Mumbai for INR 215 crore and six operating warehouses at Panvel FTWZ.

The statement by a-iTrust reads, “To provide a future pipeline of warehouses for acquisition, a-iTrust has signed an agreement with an option to acquire the existing warehouses and fund the construction of future warehouses within the FTWZ, and to acquire these warehouses when completed, subject to the fulfillment of certain terms and conditions.”

While commenting on the development, the chief executive officer of the Trustee-Manager, Sanjeev Dasgupta said, “The proposed acquisition also enables a-iTrust to grow its warehousing footprint in North India. We would benefit from key infrastructure projects like Jewar International airport and Dedicated Freight Corridor coming up in the vicinity.”

The current portfolio size of a-iTrust is expected to increase by around 1 per cent following the acquisition from 22.6 million square feet to 22.8 million square feet.