Virtuous Retail South Asia raises USD 175 mn

Shopping mall developer Virtuous Retail South Asia has raised USD 175 million (about Rs 1,143 crore) of additional equity from one of its founding shareholders, APG Asset Management. The equity investment will augment the existing investment capacity of the company and position it for future growth, the company said in a statement. "With all our existing centres trading, our focus will be on new greenfield projects and selective acquisitions which meet our location and quality parameters," VRSA Chairman and founder of The Xander Group Sid Yog said. VRSA Executive MD and Chief Investment Officer Rohit George said the additional equity will help to significantly add to its dominant portfolio of highly visible shopping centres, integrated with extensive and unique management capability built by us over a decade. Virtuous Retail South Asia (VRSA) is a joint venture between Dutch pension fund asset manager APG Asset Management (APG) and Virtuous Retail (VR) sponsored by emerging markets investment firm The Xander Group Inc (Xander).  The company's portfolio comprises 5.5 million square feet across four flagship centres in Bengaluru, Surat, Chandigarh and Chennai. The company said it looks to add centres in key markets, including the NCR of Delhi, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata.