Anant Raj demerges data centre arm into listed entity
Indian property group Anant Raj is spinning off its rapidly expanding data centre business into a separately listed company to unlock shareholder value and facilitate a planned $2.1 billion infrastructure expansion.
Anant Raj Limited will separate its data centre operations from its traditional real estate business following board approval for a Composite Scheme of Arrangement. The restructuring, sanctioned under Sections 230 to 232 of the Companies Act, 2013, is designed to establish two distinct, publicly traded companies. This move is intended to unlock independent market recognition for the group's high-growth digital infrastructure unit.
Eligible shareholders of Anant Raj will receive one fully paid-up equity share in Ashok Cloud Private Limited for every share they currently hold. While ACPL will continue to remain a subsidiary of the parent company, the listing will give existing investors direct participation in the digital arm's future value creation. The new entity will consolidate the group's technology assets to provide advanced data centres, co-location services, sovereign public cloud offerings, and AI-ready infrastructure.
The spin-off is tailored to support a massive capital deployment aimed at capturing surging demand for digital capacity in India. Anant Raj currently operates 28 megawatts of IT load across its campuses in Manesar and Panchkula. Management expects this footprint to reach roughly 117 MW by financial year 2028, with a longer-term target of 307 MW by FY32.
Achieving this scale will require a substantial capital expenditure of approximately $2.1 billion. The planned investments will fund capacity additions across the group's strategic sites in Manesar, Panchkula, and Rai.
Streamlining these operations under one corporate roof is a strategic play to attract specialized capital from institutional investors. “By bringing together the data centre and cloud services operations currently housed across Anant Raj Ltd and Anant Raj Cloud Pvt Ltd under one roof, we are creating a more focused and scalable platform that will be well-positioned to attract investments, pursue strategic partnerships, and capitalize on emerging opportunities in the digital infrastructure sector,” Sarin said.
The company has already taken steps to integrate its cloud service offerings ahead of the split. In June 2024, Anant Raj partnered with French provider Orange Business to deliver managed cloud services in India. The completion of the demerger is still pending and requires standard regulatory approvals from the National Company Law Tribunal, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, stock exchanges, and shareholders.
