IL&FS buys office building in Noida for Rs 200 crore

NEW DELHI: Private equity fund IL&FS Investment Managers has bought a 300,000 sq ft office building in Noida for Rs 200 crore, a person involved in the transaction said.

The building, Express Trade Tower, which is located in Noida’s sector 16-A Film City area, is currently occupied by media company TV 18 group and various consumer companies such as Amway and JC Penny, among others.

The founder of ETT group, Harvinder Singh, denied that the building has been sold. A mail sent to IL&FS Investment Managers remained unanswered. Cushman & Wakefield, which was the transaction advisor in the deal, declined to comment.

IL&FS Investment Managers is also in the process of buying four office buildings spread over 1.2 million sq ft in Noida’s sector-62 from Logix group and Citi Property Investors for Rs 600-650 crore. The four buildings with 300,000 sq ft of space in each are spread over 11 acres.

In January this year, IIML had paid Rs 200 crore for a 9.4% stake in an Indiabulls firm, which is building a project on Bharat Mills at Worli in Mumbai. The last two years have seen a number of private equity funds including Blackstone, IDFC picking up income producing office buildings.

“Given the uncertain environment, the best way to take exposure in the commercial real estate market is to pick up income producing commercial office buildings,” says Anckur Srivasttava, chairman of GenReal Property Advisers.

“These are safer options as rental income starts immediately and if they manage to create a portfolio of properties, they can be listed as a real estate investment trust later.” Some others like IL&FS Milestone Fund and JM Financial Real Estate Income Fund have set up dedicated rental yield funds.