CapLand JV Buys IT Park Site Near Mumbai

Souece : The Business Times, April 25, 2008

CAPITALAND said yesterday that its associate Loma IT Park Developers has bought a 121,450 sq m site at the Trans Thana Creek industrial area in Navi Mumbai, India, for $79 million. The seller is Standard Industries, a company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.

CapitaLand and its partner plan to build an information technology park and a Grade A office complex on the site, which is in the heart of the Mumbai-Pune 'Knowledge Corridor'. The project will be CapitaLand's first such development in India.

Loma is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arc-CapitaLand India - a joint venture set up by CapitaLand and Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank to develop the site. The proposed development will comprise 2.5 million sq ft (about 232,342 sq m) of built-up space, roughly half of which will be set aside for IT companies.

Construction is expected to begin by the first quarter of 2009. Completion will be in phases over the next five years. CapitaLand president and chief executive Liew Mun Leong said: 'India has been identified as an important new market in Asia for the CapitaLand group. Its immense potential as a high growth market cannot be ignored.'

Arc-CapitaLand India has appointed London-based Foreign Office Architects to design the project.

The development is expected to set quality benchmarks to meet the demands of multinational companies and high-tech businesses. It will also be one of the first major developments in Mumbai to feature environmentally sustainable commercial space.