TVS Motor arm, ASK Property tie up for Rs 400-cr realty fund

TVS Emerald, the real estate arm of TVS Motor Company, and ASK Property Investment Advisors (ASK PIA), the real estate private equity manager of ASK Group, have partnered to set up a Rs 400-crore real estate investment platform.

Both of the partners would jointly infuse the money, and the capital raised would be invested in affordable mid-income housing projects, ASK said in a release on Monday.

Through this platform, the partnership has also announced its first investment in Porur in Chennai. The project is being developed on a 10-acre land parcel having 5,48,000 sq ft of saleable area, with an investment of Rs 83 crore. 

The tie-up comes at a time when home sales are lagging behind and the sector is going through challenging times after the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016, came into force. Bank credit to the sector is also slowing.

According to reports, ICICI Prudential Asset Management is also looking to set up a real estate investment platform with a corpus of almost $400 million.

ASK Property Investment Advisors recently raised Rs 535 crore for its seventh real estate fund from domestic high net worth individuals. The fund has a total corpus of Rs 2,000 crore. The fund manager is also looking to set up a real estate focused non-banking finance company.

Amit Bhagat, managing director and chief executive officer, ASK PIA said, “We strongly believe that affordable and mid-segment market offers huge growth potential and this is in sync with TVS Emerald’s core purpose of providing better living space to the urban middle class.” 

R Chandramouli, president and CEO, TVS Emerald, said, “Experience, expertise, enthusiasm, and knowledge that ASK PIA team brings will surely add to the value proposition that TVS Emerald has always envisioned to deliver to our customers.”