Edelweiss arm set to acquire two realty funds from Milestone Capital

Edelweiss Alternative Asser Advisors has over $2 billion worth of assets under management

Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors, part of Edelweiss Financial Services on Monday said it would be acquiring two funds of Milestone Capital Advisors  – Milestone Opportunities Fund 10 and Milestone Commercial Advantage Fund.

Both the funds are Sebi-registered Category II alternate investment funds with a combined assets of over Rs 1.5 billion. Edelweiss is also absorbing the investment team of these funds.

Edelweiss Alternative Asser Advisors (EAAA) has over $2 billion worth of assets under management. EAAA focuses on credit opportunities in India and caters to global and domestic investors across illiquid strategies, including infrastructure, distressed assets, collateralised credit and real estate.

“Having established a successful track record in residential real estate investing, EAAA’s acquisition of Milestone’s Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Fund is part of the group’s strategy to further strengthen its yielding asset platform while widening the range of investment opportunities to its clients,” Edelweiss said.

Nitin Jain, CEO, Global Wealth & Asset Management Business at Edelweiss said, “There is a growing demand from investors for high yielding long term assets and we believe this is a large structural opportunity. This acquisition will also provide us a seamless entry into the CRE space adjacent to our current offerings in Residential Real Estate.” He further added, “We welcome the highly qualified and experienced funds team who will now have access to the Edelweiss platform and together we will add significant depth to our yielding asset strategy.”

Venkat Ramaswamy, executive director & co-head, Global Wealth & Asset Management Business at Edelweiss, provided a global perspective and said, “Over the last 8-10 months the industry has witnessed a spate of transactions clearly indicating a turnaround in the commercial real estate space. We also continue to receive keen interest from international investors including large global pension funds and insurance companies aggressively looking at acquiring grade-A commercial real assets for long term investment. This acquisition will allow us to partner with global institutions looking at India as a long term investment destination.” 

EAAA recently garnered its base offering size of INR 20 billion for its Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus Fund, offering good quality risk-adjusted yield ascertaining a clearly felt need for long term yielding products.

Rubi Arya, executive vice-chairman, Milestone Capital Advisors, said, “Upholding Investors’ interest has been the guiding principle of Milestone Group. We are convinced of Edelweiss’ commitment to this business, and believe that with this acquisition, the Interest of the investors shall continue to be served given their excellent track record.”