Red Fort Capital invests Rs 200 cr in Indu Group

Company's fourth investment in Indian market.

Red Fort Capital, a global real estate private equity fund with Rs 1,600 crore allocated for the Indian market, has invested a little over Rs 200 crore in a project being developed by the Hyderabad-based Indu Group.

Red Fort Capital is investing the sum to fuel a Rs 1,200 crore 100-acre residential project being put in place by Indu Group. Red Fort Capital partner Subhash Bedi confirmed this investment.

For Red Fort, this is the fourth investment in the Indian market after having invested $100 million in Bangalore-based Prestige Group for a software technology park and is understood to have finalised an additional $100 million for an 800-acre township in Bidadi, 30 km south of Bangalore. This PE fund has also committed substantially in Chennai for an 11-acre high-end gated residential community.

Indu Group, an end-to-end solutions provider, in infrastructure and real estate industry has to its credit 6 million square feet of built-up area and 25 million square feet area with ongoing work on diverse projects.

Early this year, Citibank Venture Capital invested Rs 150 crore in this company for a 9 per cent stake.

According to industry information, in addition to the $400 million planned for the Indian markets, Red Fort in planning to expand this to around $900 million shortly. After having taken exposure in the South Indian markets, this firm is looking at investments in Goa, Mumbai and in the vicinity of Delhi.

Industry analysts indicate that this rush of private equity players in the Indian real estate market is driven by healthy returns of 25 per cent which these players are hoping to get.

Global giants like J P Morgan, Deutsche Group, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Blackstone, Tishman Speyer besides India's own ICICI, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra are vying with each other for a piece of the lucrative market, which on a conservative estimate has seen $4 billion investment this year.