Financial technology and digital payment services provider Infibeam Avenues has acquired an entire ground plus 10-storey commercial tower, which was being developed by textile manufacturer Sintex Group as its headquarters in Ahmedabad, for Rs 90 crore, said persons with direct knowledge of the development.
In March, Reliance Industries completed its Rs 3,567-crore acquisition of Sintex Industries, exactly a year after banks had approved the acquisition and a month after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the transaction.
This under-construction office tower with 400,000 sq ft space being built on 1.7 acres was not part of the resolution as one of the lenders had already taken charge of the property to recover its dues even before the resolution process had started.
“The non-banking finance company (NBFC) had taken over the ownership of the property through a trust called Aavas Trust that decided to divest the property on an ‘as is where is basis’ through Swiss auction method,” said one of the persons mentioned above.
International property consultant JLL as the exclusive transaction advisor had invited bids for the property with a base price of Rs 76.5 crore.
After receiving bids from a few interested parties, the under-construction property on a freehold land parcel at Ahmedabad’s Vaishnodevi Circle was sold to the highest bidder, Infibeam Avenues, and the deal was registered on Monday.
ET’s separate email queries to Infibeam Avenues, Sintex Industries, and transaction advisor JLL India remained unanswered until the time of going to press.
Infibeam Avenues is expected to complete the construction of the newly-acquired commercial tower. The tower was nearly 80% completed when one the lenders took charge of the same in lieu of its dues and no further work has been carried out at the project site since then.
The buyer is likely to use the new tower for its expansion. Infibeam Avenues is headquartered in the international financial hub at GIFT City in Gandhinagar with additional offices across key Indian cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and the UAE and the US.
Infibeam Avenues, India’s first listed fintech company, had recently announced its plans to foray into artificial intelligence (AI) to tap the burgeoning AI-enabled fraud detection market.
The company is planning to establish India’s first AI hub headquartered at GIFT City with an initial focus on the fintech and financial sector, building AI solutions for fraud detection, authentication, and risk identification (FAR) for domestic and global markets.
It has already stated plans to make a strategic investment in the next three years to build and nurture the AI hub. This strategic move includes building an in-house talent pool by hiring AI engineers, data scientists, and other staff, initiating global collaboration and facilitating AI startups with access to funding, mentorship, infrastructure, and business opportunity for growth.
