Retail-led mixed-use assets developer and operator The Phoenix Mills plans to acquire at least three malls in the next 9-12 months including a large Greenfield project in Kolkata, discussions for which had already started prior to the pandemic. Last week, the company raised Rs 1,100 crore through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) taking its cash position to Rs 1,920 crore.
These acquisitions--both new or brownfield projects--are expected to be in the range of 7 lakh to 1.2 million sq ft each and will be driven by the company’s stated strategy to emerge as a dominant consumption center in the market.
Currently, the company has a total 7 million sq ft gross leasable area across 9 operational malls in 6 cities including Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai. Except Chennai, all other malls of the company have started operations post lifting of lockdown by various state governments. In addition to this, around 5 million sq ft gross leasable area is under development that will take its portfolio to 12 million sq ft by 2023-24.
Known for its large format retail malls, Phoenix Mills is looking at markets including Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Gurgaon for these acquisitions apart from a few micro markets in Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Bengaluru.
