RMZ Corp has appointed Ankit Samdariya as managing director of equity capital markets, as the real estate firm looks to strengthen its fund-raising capabilities and forge new global partnerships to support its next phase of growth, two people familiar with the development said.

The appointment comes as RMZ embarks on an ambitious expansion, with plans to invest $35 billion over the next five years in mixed-use commercial office developments and data centres. The expansion will be funded through a mix of debt and equity, while the company is also evaluating an initial public offering (IPO) to secure long-term capital.

An RMZ spokesperson declined to comment. Samdariya could not be reached for comment.

Samdariya joins RMZ after spending five years as managing director, capital and business development, at logistics firm LO-GOI Group (formerly LOGOS Property Group).

“Ankit Samdariya's key responsibilities include raising large-scale institutional equity capital well through global capital partnerships, across the different businesses. The capital would be raised at the entity, project and platform levels,” said the first person, asking not to be named.

Samdariya will build a team focused on developing relationships with pension and sovereign wealth funds, global asset managers and limited partners across North America, West Asia and Asia Pacific.

His appointment comes at a time when RMZ is looking to significantly scale its asset base and diversify its sources of capital.

RMZ's business is split into three verticals. Its real estate business comes under the holding company, RMZ Real Assets Corp.; the second is its data centre vertical; and the third is RMZ Private Capital, which invests in sports, entertainment and other businesses.

The group’s expansion into multiple asset classes and its large development pipeline are likely to require substantial institutional capital, making global investor relationships increasingly important.

At LO-GOI Group, Samdariya played a key role in a transaction where the logistics company sold around 5 million sq ft of warehousing assets to global asset manager Blackstone for around $200 million.

RMZ’s hyper-growth strategy has historically been supported by long-term partnerships with institutional investors.

Canada's CPP Investments is an early investor partner and has invested more than $210 million in RMZ’s commercial projects in Chennai and Hyderabad.

Japanese developer Mitsui Fudosan came on board in 2019 through an equity partnership involving $1 billion to jointly develop assets in India.

RMZ, owned by the Menda family, sold part of its commercial office portfolio to a fund managed by Brookfield for around $2 billion, marking one of the largest-ever deals in India's real estate sector. Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) had also invested in RMZ and exited with high returns.

These transactions have helped establish RMZ as one of the more prominent Indian real estate platforms for global institutional capital.

As per recent media reports, RMZ is currently in talks to raise $400-500 million from global investors. That is part of its larger fund-raising plans.

The company’s proposed $35 billion investment over the next five years will require a substantially larger capital base as it expands its office and data centre businesses.

“RMZ is like a fund-raising machine and has been one of the largest capital raisers in the industry. They have brought in some of the biggest global investors in the past and has diversified their portfolio over the years. In the future, it may explore other real estate asset classes as well,” said the second person mentioned above.