Virtuous Retail South Asia (VRSA), which operates malls in Surat and Bengaluru, said in a statement it has raised $175 million (roughly ₹1,150 crore) of additional private equity funding from APG Asset Management, one of the founding shareholders of the company.

In November 2016, Dutch pension fund asset manager APG and Virtuous Retail, sponsored by investment firm Xander Group, had formed VRSA as a $450-million joint venture. VRSA initially acquired three retail assets for ₹2,000 crore.

In May this year, it acquired a 2 million sq ft centre in Chandigarh region for ₹700 crore, taking the retail portfolio to about 5.5 million sq ft. VRSA is scheduled to open its Chennai project in 2018. The company said it would continue to leverage its capabilities across the value chain of development, ownership and operations, to grow its portfolio by adding centres in Delhi-NCR, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

Rohit George, Executive Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, VRSA, said in the statement: “APG and Xander are like-minded long-term investors who have demonstrated their commitment to the Indian retail sector. This additional equity gives VRSA the firepower and the runway to add significantly to our already dominant portfolio of highly visible shopping centres, integrated with extensive and unique management capability built by us over a decade. We hope to announce some exciting new developments and acquisitions in the near future that will further expand VRSA’s footprint across our key focus markets in India.”

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